This should really help with gas prices…
When faced with sky-high prices of a commodity, the best thing you can do is work to increase supply. However, some cities in California have decided to do the exact opposite, rejecting proposals for dirty gas stations as they dream of pollution-free cities full of clean EVs. It’s a policy decision which some are praising but could come with some horrific consequences for residents.
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According to Yahoo, leading the charge is Petaluma, a city in Sonoma County. It banned the building of new gas stations in the city last year, a move which has spread to other parts of the Bay Area. I’d call this type of thinking a type of social cancer since it’s based on lofty ideals disconnected with the harshness of reality. Sure, a pollution-free society sounds great but it’s a pipe dream.
This push to ban the construction of new gas stations is gaining a foothold in Los Angeles, a city where owning a car is a necessity. I’ve driven in LA more times than I’d like to admit and can see the attraction elites have of essentially forcing other people to get out of their way. After all, it will be the middle class which suffers the most since they can’t afford the expensive EVs and they’re not poor enough to qualify for government coddling. Alleviating some of the gridlock while looking like an environmental hero is admittedly a genius, albeit evil, plan.
Many environmental groups are behind these types of initiatives, combined with city council members and mayors who have been schooled in the rhetoric of everything wrong with ICE vehicles and everything wonderful about EVs. Unfortunately, dogmatic adherence to such doctrines doesn’t change the reality of these sorts of policy decisions. While the share of all-electric cars on California roads has been increasing, the cost of such vehicles along with the viability of the questionable power grid in the state to provide enough juice for everyone’s ride makes mainstream adoption untenable at this point. That won’t stop leaders who know best from imposing their preferences on the population, throwing up economic and financial roadblocks for their constituents who can't afford to comply.
The real horror of this situation is as California continues to ratchet up the cost of living in the state and middle-class residents flee the squeeze, many seem to have not learned the folly of their ways. Instead, they move to other states and try to vote for people who do the same thing, thinking this time it will actually work. I see this unfolding in real-time here in Arizona and I've watched it in other states. It’s the same mentality as people who keep saying communism wasn’t “done right” in all the different countries which adopted the economic system as they try instituting it in yet another nation.
Here in Arizona, Phoenix has been working on a bold and expensive electric vehicle master plan for the city which involves charging stations put in all over the place, among other dreamy goals. Tempe has similar plans in the works. There is zero serious concern about what these initiatives will do economically to the area because environmental groups have blown plenty of sunshine up the skirts of city officials and enough influential residents to keep these utopian dreams moving forward. It’s like watching Icarus soar ever higher, growing more confident of his man-made wings by the second.
Source: Yahoo
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