Instead of supporting transport electrification, the US state wants to ban electric cars. Once again, the future of the country is to depend on conventional internal combustion engines - to go along with the economic policy plans of the Republicans.
A large part of the world's political forces are, at least on paper, increasingly backing electric vehicles for the green transformation of the transport world. The European Union, for example, has decided to ban new registrations of internal combustion vehicles from 2035 and is being followed by other countries in its efforts for cleaner mobility. Great Britain, for example - or even states in the United States such as California - are also aiming for such a ban in a similar time frame. But not in the US western state of Wyoming. Because here, some senators of the Republican Party are planning a sales ban on e-cars.
Indeed, members of the US state's House of Representatives and Senate have filed a motion for a new law that would gradually drive electric vehicles off the roads by 2035. The reasons? They lie in economic necessity, but above all in the tradition on which Wyoming has been based for decades. Oil and gas production, he says, is undeniably a major industry in Wyoming. "It has created countless jobs and provided revenue to the state of Wyoming throughout the state's history" - the bill says. And for many years to come, internal combustion and fossil fuels are expected to remain vital to citizens and businesses.
Add to this, the resolution's supporters say, the problem of a lack of infrastructure that makes "the widespread use of electric vehicles in this state unrealisable". The current network is vastly inadequate and too much time and resources would have to be invested by the state to create enough charging points for all future electric-powered cars. The disposal of the raw materials used in battery production is also a problem for the Republicans. At the same time, according to the senatorial group, the local car industry does not have access to the materials necessary for the production of e-cars. An explanation that certainly sounds like a cop-out, considering that the same situation applies to conventional diesel and petrol cars in Wyoming.
All in all, the proposal lets shine through with clarity what the state's political representatives intend to do with it. And as right as it is to protect the economic interests of the state - especially in terms of the impact of this on the lives of the population - the very idea of an e-car ban seems particularly worrying these days. Not once is climate protection mentioned in the motion, for example. The reasons given for the need for a ban simply reflect the challenges of electrification - which have been known for a long time and with which all countries around the world are equally struggling.
So what if other countries also began to see the difficulties of electromobility no longer as hurdles to be overcome for more environmentally friendly transport - but as valid excuses to move from the constant postponement of new measures to an outright ban on electric vehicles? That the senators' demand will be heard by the US government, however, is considered quite unlikely so far. Especially since President Biden and the US continue to back electromobility at a state level - and worldwide the trend is clear: the vehicle of the future must drive in a more environmentally conscious way.