False: The sale of new electric vehicles will be banned in Wyoming from 2035.

Context

In August 2022, California air regulators approved a regulation to ban the sale of new gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles starting from 2035 in an attempt to curb carbon emissions and combat the climate change crisis. According to a report by NPR, under the planned regulation, Californians can keep their gasoline automobiles and buy used ones, but no new models will be sold in the state after 2035. USA Today reported that Washington, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, and Vermont are likely to adopt similar policies.

As several states in the U.S. are moving towards implementing new zero-emission vehicle regulations, some social media posts claimed that Wyoming approved a ban on electric vehicles from 2035. A Facebook post published on January 18 said that the ban was enacted to protect Wyoming's oil and gas industry, which has been a "critical revenue source and created thousands of jobs over the years." Many of these posts included an article from Energy Live News published on January 17, which claimed that Wyoming had made this decision while other states were banning the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles.

In Fact

While six Wyoming State Legislators did propose a joint resolution to phase out the sale of new electric vehicles by 2035, the proposal was not passed. Further, it was not a piece of legislation and would not have amounted to a ban. The resolution's sponsors stated that the resolution ''will ensure the stability of Wyoming's oil and gas industry.'' This was a resolution of a symbolic nature, not actual legislation that would go into statute.

Speaking to The Washington Post, Senator Anderson stated that he didn't "have a problem with electric vehicles at all" and that anyone interested in purchasing an electric vehicle should be able to do so. He noted that the resolution was inspired by California's move to ban the sale of new gas-powered automobiles in August. He added that he introduced the bill to express discontent with states prohibiting gasoline vehicles.

Further, a video recording of the January 16 meeting of the Senate Minerals, Business, and Economic Development Committee, uploaded on the Wyoming Legislature's YouTube channel, shows that it discussed the resolution for about 30 minutes. However, none of the members moved to vote, so the proposal was not approved. During the hearing, Senator Anderson emphasized, "This is just a resolution; it's not a law. So it's just making a statement. It's not changing anything that happens in the state.''  

The Verdict

Wyoming has not announced that from 2035, the sale of electric vehicles will be banned. A joint resolution by state senators to discourage the sale of electric vehicles was put forward, but it was not a ban and failed to get approval. Therefore, we have marked the claim as false.