Republican Senator Chuck Grassley is lambasting newly-proposed environmental legislation by four Democratic senators which he says would “absolutely destroy Iowa’s economy.”
Grassley describes the Zero-Emission Vehicles Act as a “far left scheme” which would strip away consumer choice and do irreparable harm to our state’s agriculture-based economy. “This proposal mandates that only electric vehicles can be sold by 2035 and it would also mandate half of all new cars be electric in just five years,” Grassley says. “Can you imagine?”
Grassley says he favors efforts to make America more energy-efficient and energy independent, with an emphasis on corn- and soy-based biofuels, but he doubts the wisdom of forcing electric vehicles on the nation’s motorists. “Since the majority of the electricity is still produced by fossil fuels,” Grassley says, “it raises the question about how environmentally good this is.” Grassley says a recently released study by the Ag Retailers Association details the damage an electric car mandate would do to the nation’s ag economy, including the 48,000 jobs in Iowa that rely on ethanol and biodiesel.
“Corn prices could be slashed by half,” Grassley says. “Soybean prices could drop by 44%, while 244,000 jobs would be lost, and finally, the U.S. farm economy would be decreased by up to $27-billion.”
Grassley says it’s the type of legislation we can expect if Democrat Joe Biden is elected president and the Senate swings away from a Republican majority.
(This story was updated to reflect the source of the study)