FILE. Letter writer says, ‘As long as people need cars, trucks and buses, electric vehicles are the answer.’ (Lori Van Buren/Times Union)
Lori Van Buren/Albany Times Union
James S. Calvin is half right in his commentary “We need more data ahead of zero-emission law” April 16: the production of electric vehicles does produce significant greenhouse gas emissions. But that does not mean, as Calvin suggests, that we should simply leave it to the market, rather than science, to decide whether gas-powered or electric vehicles are less harmful to the environment.
The Union of Concerned Scientists has already decided. In 2015 it reported that battery electric vehicles, despite the emissions resulting from their production, are cleaner in the long run, producing “less than half the global warming emissions of comparable gasoline-powered vehicles, even when the higher emissions associated with [battery-electric vehicles] manufacturing are taken into consideration.”
Our elected representatives must advance legislation in Albany to actively green New York’s transportation sector. Transportation committee chairs — Assemblymember William Magnarelli and Senator Tim Kennedy — must support these bills and bring them up for a vote: the Green Transit and Green Jobs bills, which set standards and incentives for purchase of zero-emission buses, as well as bills that would buck the auto dealer lobby by lifting restrictions on direct sales of electric cars.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration can take action by adopting the state of California’s transportation regulations, which would reduce emissions reductions in medium- and heavy-duty trucks.
We no longer have time for Calvin’s arguments to protect vehicles powered by fossil fuels. As long as people need cars, trucks and buses, electric vehicles are the answer.
Debra Handel
Shoreham
