BlueGreen Alliance Discussion on Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s proposed rule to adopt California emissions standards
Kevin Lee, the State Policy Director for the BlueGreen Alliance, testified before the Joint Meeting of the Minnesota State Senate Committees on Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Environment and Natural Resources Policy and Legacy Finance.
We stand at a crossroads for manufacturing and the middle class. Manufacturers in the U.S. have risen to the challenge of building the next generation of advanced vehicles, and currently many of the market-leading EVs are assembled here in the U.S., creating high-skill, high-wage, family-sustaining jobs. But this global leadership is not assured for the future. Our competitors in Europe and Asia are making deep investments in EV manufacturing and putting into place policies to drive their own manufacturing and technology leadership in advanced vehicles. Without action, we will fall behind the rest of the world. So the question is not about car standards for California or Minnesota, it is about whether we are moving forward or moving backward. The federal government is taking our fuel economy standards backwards, and without action it will take us with them, along with all of the businesses and workers in the advanced vehicle industry.