Climate Activists Pressure Broadcasters to Censor Ads Criticizing Biden Administration’s Electric-Vehicle Push

A left-wing climate activist group is pressuring broadcasters not to air advertisements criticizing the Biden administration’s promotion of electric vehicles at the expense of gas-powered cars.

Climate Power wrote a letter on February 13th to broadcasters urging them not to air advertisements by the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) targeting Americans in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada, Arizona, Ohio, and Montana.

“These advertisements include obvious lies aimed at deceiving the public and must be pulled from the air immediately,” Climate Power wrote to local affiliates. The climate activists believe it is deceptive to categorize regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency as a ban on gas-powered vehicles designed to replace them with electric cars.

Climate Power also suggested local affiliates could be violating Federal Communications Commission laws by broadcasting the AFPM advertisements. The group did not respond to a request for comment from National Review.

“Failure to prevent the airing of ‘false and misleading advertising’ may be ‘probative of an underlying abdication of licensee responsibility’ that can be cause for the loss of a station’s license,” the letter warns.

Climate Power is an activist organization bankrolled by Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss through the Fund for a Better Future, the Washington Free Beacon previously reported. The organization plans to spend $80 million on advertisements to promote Biden’s environmental record in contrast to Former president Donald Trump, according to the New York Times.

Consumer advocates are pushing back against Climate Power’s push for broadcasters to refuse to air ads advocating against the Biden administration’s environmental agenda.

“The dirty secret among climate extremists is that they know their vision for the world is wildly unpopular and fundamentally at odds with the interests of the vast majority of consumers. They can’t win at the ballot box, so they try to shut down any and all opposing viewpoints,” Consumers’ Research Executive Director Will Hild told National Review.

Hild is an opponent of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing, and “woke” corporations that promote left-wing agendas.

“That extremist agitators like Climate Power are trying to get the FCC to pull down ads that oppose their radical green agenda is deeply Orwellian, but not surprising. Climate extremists should take note: when you see the constitutional right to free speech as a threat to your movement, it may be time to seriously reconsider your worldview,” Hild added.

The EPA proposed the most strict vehicle-pollution standards in recent history last year with the purpose of bolstering EV sales and pushing consumers away from gas-powered vehicles. The new proposed tailpipe-emissions regulations could result in 67 percent of all light-duty vehicle sales being electric by model year 2032, the EPA said when it announced the regulations in April.

“The EPA itself expressly says that the effect of its tailpipe rule could mean 67 percent of new light-duty vehicle sales will be EVs by 2032. It’s very simple: the rule is a federal effort to help put an end to internal combustion engine vehicles. The agency is exceeding its authority to regulate vehicle emissions by trying to dictate what type of cars Americans will be able to buy,” Competitive Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow Darren Bakst told National Review.

AFPM’s seven-figure ad campaign aims to inform Americans about the Biden administration’s efforts to further regulate gas-powered vehicles in order to facilitate a transition to electric vehicles.

“The Biden administration is overseeing a whole-of-government campaign to eliminate new gas, diesel, flex fuel and traditional hybrid vehicles. This forced electrification agenda is bad for American families, bad for our economy and indefensible in terms of U.S. national security,” AFPM President Chet Thompson said in a statement upon announcing the ad campaign.

Alliance for Consumers (AFC), another consumer advocacy group, wrote a letter to local affiliates Wednesday advising them to continue airing the AFPM ads and let consumers gain exposure to both sides of the debate. The letter cites an EPA fact sheet about the stringent vehicle-pollution standards and a New York Times article describing the EPA’s vehicle regulations as a plan to get Americans to switch to electric cars.

“As AFC has explained, the proposed rule is an unlawful EV mandate masquerading as a tailpipe regulation. EPA is proposing to replace a majority of the cars on the market today with EVs that are currently unpopular with everyday consumers in most parts of the country and do not work within the household budgets of those who need cars to help their families thrive,” AFC Executive Director O.H. Skinner told National Review.

“Climate Power’s is dead wrong on the facts even as it tries to mandate that its views are the only ones allowed to reach the airwaves.”