Aug. 30, 2022—The Commonwealth of Virginia is currently set to pursue a gas-powered vehicle ban in the same vein as California, but not everyone agrees with it.
According to Fox 5 Washington DC, due to 2021 legislation that adopted California emission standards, Virginia will also transition out gas-powered vehicles by 2035.
This will require all new cars across the state to be electric or run on hydrogen by the year 2035. California recently announced this strategy for its state. Former Virginia Governor Ralph Northam passed a law in 2021 that linked Virginia's vehicle emission standards to the ones established in California.
California's standards on this matter are currently more strict than federal standards. There are 17 states overall that have taken on some or all of California's tailpipe emissions standards.
In Virginia, there is pushback from the current administration on this adoption. Fox 5 reported that the administration is looking to reverse this legislation. According to Fox 5, current Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin is "already at work to prevent this ridiculous edict from being forced on Virginians."
