Not enough. That was the message from the radical reporting on Thursday’s CBS This Morning. Reporter Ben Tracy hit the Biden administration from the left, demanding the Democrat do even more to force the auto industry into a full embrace of electric cars. Tracy hyped that Biden’s “executive order today says by 2030 half of all vehicles sold in the U.S. should be electric.”
Talking to the President’s EPA Administrator, the journalist skeptically wondered, “When the automakers talk about EV [electric vehicle] sales, they frame it as aspirations, as goals. Do you believe they're going to do what they say they may do?” He hectored, “A lot of these environmental groups that are very supportive of the administration's moves on climate just don't think this is enough.”
It probably goes without saying that CBS didn’t bother to give the perspective of what so many electric cars so fast might do to prices.
Instead, Tracy lamented how extreme environmental groups wish Biden would go further:
Requiring vehicles to be more efficient forces automakers to build and sell more electric models. That's how they offset gas live guzzling trucks and SUVs. But with the impacts of climate change now seemingly everywhere, environmental groups wanted the Biden administration to be bolder. The new tailpipe regulations are essentially a return to the Obama standards that were undone by President Trump. Dan Becker is with the center for biological diversity which took out full-page ads urging President Biden to do more.
CBS even featured some of a print ad by the Center for Biological Diversity, a group claiming Biden isn't doing enough. (See image at right.)
Back on April 6, Tracy gushed on CBS This Morning: “The tail pipe is an endangered species." He parroted, “Automakers are also counting on the federal government. President Biden's infrastructure plan calls for 500,000 EV charging stations across the country by 2030.”
Billions to electric cars were going into the infrastructure bill. Just how much? According to The Wall Street Journal at the time, $174 billion. But that eye-popping price tag (paid by taxpayers) never came up. Just as the cost to the customers for all these electric cars never came up on Thursday.
This propaganda on CBS was sponsored by Panera Bread. Click on the link to let them know what you think.
A transcript of the segment is below. Click “expand” to read more.
CBS This Morning
8/5/2021
7:12 AM ET
CBS Graphic: Biden Order Targets Car Pollution
ANTHONY MASON: President Biden plans to sign an executive order today setting a new national goal for electric vehicle sales. The administration will also announce stricter fuel efficiency standards. First on CBS This Morning, Ben Tracy talked to EPA administrator Michael Regan about the new efforts to fight climate change. Ben, good morning.
BEN TRACY: Anthony, good morning. So the federal government wants the cars and trucks we drive to be more efficient. So they pollute less. And a big part of these standards is to try to get us out of our gas-powered cars and into electric ones.
JOE BIDEN: Look, the future of the auto industry is electric. There's no turning back.
TRACY: President Biden thinks the road to an electric future could be a relatively short drive.
BIDEN [Driving an electric truck.]: This sucker's quick.
TRACY: His executive order today says by 2030 half of all vehicles sold in the U.S. should be electric. Right now, EVs make up just 2 percent of new car sales. This is ambitious, but is it realistic?
EPA ADMINISTRATOR MICHAEL REGAN: It's both. It's an ambitious goal, and it is realistic.
TRACY: When the automakers talk about EV sales, they frame it as aspirations, as goals. Do you believe they're going to do what they say they may do?
REGAN: You know, we hope that they will. And we will hold them accountable. We know that this is where the technology's headed. We know this is the future of the automobile industry.
TRACY: Today EPA will unveil stricter new efficiency standards for cars and trucks claiming it will save American drivers as much as $250 billion in fuel cost by 2050. And prevent 2.2 billion tons of carbon pollution. Transportation is the single-largest source of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
Requiring vehicles to be more efficient forces automakers to build and sell more electric models. That's how they offset gas live guzzling trucks and SUVs. But with the impacts of climate change now seemingly everywhere, environmental groups wanted the Biden administration to be bolder. The new tailpipe regulations are essentially a return to the Obama standards that were undone by President Trump. Dan Becker is with the center for biological diversity which took out full-page ads urging President Biden to do more.
DAN BECKER (Center for Biological Diversity): I'm disappointed that the president who says global warming is an existential threat isn't putting out a rule that is up to the challenge of that threat.
TRACY: A lot of these environmental groups that are very supportive of the administration's moves on climate just don't think this is enough.
REGAN: We all have that sense of urgency. EPA has a significant role in assuring that we get the emission reductions we need. And we planned on holding all of our stakeholders accountable.
TRACY: Now executives from the big three automakers are going to be at the White House later today when President Biden makes his announcement about electric vehicles. But they're already saying they're probably only going to be doing 40 to 50 percent electric sales by the end of the decade, and they frame that as an aspiration, not a commitment.
