LaMalfa Cites Concerns On Taxpayers Paying for EV Infrastructure

Washington, D.C. – This week, Congressman Doug LaMalfa (R- Richvale) and the House Agriculture Committee held a hearing to review the implications of electric vehicle (EV) investments for rural Americans. Electric Vehicles are a significant priority for the Biden Administration and they are pushing additional spending to expand the use of EVs to the American public. While some consumers have moved towards them, they represent a small portion of the US fleet of vehicles and remain relatively expensive with limited charging networks, especially in rural areas. Major concerns were raised in yesterday's hearing about the practicality, reliability and if taxpayers should be paying for expanding the charging network.  

"Consumers, not the government, should be driving the development of Electric Vehicles. If consumers want the product then let the market, not the taxpayers, provide the solutions. In many rural environments, EVs aren’t very practical. Our power grid can barely handle the EVs currently in the market and a massive expansion would require vastly more capacity than is available on the existing power grid. California had to ask owners not to charge their EVs numerous times this year due to our lack of power generation ability and our over-reliance on wind and solar. When there is a wind event, there are regular public safety power shut-offs in an attempt to prevent trees from igniting a fire due to striking power lines, thus causing another major wildfire. Just ask the thousands of residents in Nevada County who have recently been without power for weeks regarding what happens in severe storms. The government is a terrible planner and has little understanding of what consumers want and what technology will actually do. Let the market innovate. Government mandates must stay out of the way. Taxpayers shouldn’t be paying to redo the entire nation’s power grid so the Biden Administration can claim victory on EVs. We should be focused on real problems with our power infrastructure, such as hardening our grid from cyber-attacks, undergrounding lines, preventing wildfires, and ensuring we can keep the lights on affordably for American families," said Congressman LaMalfa. 

Congressman Doug LaMalfa is a lifelong farmer representing California’s First Congressional District, including Butte, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou and Tehama Counties.

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