When Connecticut Democrat Ned Lamont took office as the Governor, he had some big climate change plans in place. And with his party controlling much of the state legislature, he had plenty of support for those ambitions. One of the big ticket items he was pushing for was a ban on the sale of all gasoline-powered vehicles in the state by 2035. For a time, it looked like the plan would go through. In fact, the legislature was scheduled to vote on it today. But now it appears that the vote will not be taking place and the announcement will be replaced by a speech from Lamont praising the excellence of electric vehicles. So what happened? (NBC Connecticut)

A plan to stop the sale of gas-powered cars in Connecticut appears headed for a rerouting.

On Tuesday, lawmakers were poised to vote on ending purchases of those vehicles by 2035. But that vote seems unlikely to happen.

Gov. Ned Lamont will now hold a news conference in its place to talk about electric vehicles. It’s happening at the same time a legislative committee was expected to vote on whether the state should ban the sale of new, gas-powered vehicles by 2035.

State Republicans had been pushing back on the ban, as had the state’s energy industry. The lawmakers were getting an earful from the public as well. The reasons were numerous and we’ve discussed most of them here previously. In their effort to mimic California’s disastrous policies, Connecticut Democrats were ignoring some obvious issues that the public was fully aware of.

Fully electric vehicles are expensive, even when you include generous government subsidies. The average electric vehicle tends to cost as much as $7,000 more than a gas-powered model with similar features. That’s not a compelling sales pitch for working-class and lower-income families that are already struggling with rising costs and depleted savings. Also, going fully electric would force the state to install huge numbers of additional charging stations in a relatively short period of time, with the taxpayers footing the bill.

Further, Connecticut’s power grid is already struggling, particularly in the winter. This transition would rapidly dump a huge additional load on it. Home electric rates would inevitably rise on top of all of the other costs consumers are shouldering. Beyond all of those concerns, there remains the fundamental value of consumer choice. People like to have options and they generally tend to want to make up their own minds rather than having the government do it for them. And the vast majority of people still like gas-powered cars.

Connecticut needs to leave this question up to the court of public opinion. If EVs start becoming really popular, people will buy them on their own. That will drive up the demand for and usage of charging stations and they can be set up organically as indicated by public demand. A slow, natural transition will also give the power grid more time to adjust. That’s a significant concern because so many wind and solar projects are currently shutting down. You have to find a way to generate all of that juice somehow.

Sadly, the Democrats’ first impulse always seems to be to ban anything they don’t approve of, no matter how much the public may like or desire it. That was the initial plan of the Connecticut Democrats and they may not be able to restrain themselves much longer. The voters may need to instruct them otherwise next November.