-For Immediate Release-
CONTACT:
Nicole Walter
626-622-8761
[email protected]
Kameron Harmon
[email protected]
Motivated by concerns over climate change, this month WashPIRG Students launched a campaign for 100% electric vehicles in Washington.
“We’ve known our whole lives that climate change is a huge issue. While we’ve seen a lot of progress in our state, we need to take bold action to stop the worst impacts, like the wildfires we saw this summer,” said Kameron Harmon, WashPIRG Clean Cars Coordinator at UW. “Transportation is the number one source of climate-change causing emissions in our state and country. That’s why we’re working to pass the Clean Cars by 2030 bill.”
The Clean Cars by 2030 bill, HB 1204 (Macri) /SB 5256 (Liias) would require that all new vehicles registered in Washington need to be electric beginning with model year 2030.
“With renewable energy sources for generating electricity expanding rapidly, reducing pollution from our transportation system is the next major hurdle we must overcome in order to tackle climate change. We simply can’t solve global warming without changing how we get around,” “continued Harmon.
WashPIRG Students has long advocated for Washington to be a national clean on energy and most recently helped to pass the Washington Clean Electricity Bill, which committed the state to 100% clean electricity by 2045, making Washington one of seven states that have taken this action.
California and Massachusetts have already committed to phase out the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035, and the UK, Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden, and Norway are phasing out new gas cars by 2030.
Harmon asserted that “transitioning to electric vehicles is both necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and it’s totally achievable. Today, affordable, efficient, long-range electric vehicles are hitting the streets in record numbers, and better vehicles are coming online all the time.”
WashPIRG plans to build support for 100% clean cars by generating petitions from the UW community, holding educational events like a Virtual Clean Cars Show, and meeting directly with elected officials.
This week WashPIRG launched the campaign with their Annual Lobby Day. While the pandemic held them back from going down to Olympia, WashPIRG students organized virtual meetings with representatives to share their support for the clean cars bills.
“It was great to meet with our elected officials and tell them directly why we care about tackling the climate crisis and that we are looking to them to take strong actions for our future,” said Maddie Moore, WashPIRG Students Chapter Chair at the University of Washington.
