While the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers emerged from meetings with the UAW last week with stern radio ads warning of the effect on jobs and the bottom line if Obama’s radical 56 MPG-by-2025 fuel mileage diktat is enacted, UAW President Bob King has tried to straddle the fence between his Big Green and Big Auto allies.
Committed to showing that he is pro-growth, King understands the mortal threat of forced electricification of Detroit’s profitable Big Three truck fleet. But at the same time, he is a committed greenie who lobbied against Republican House efforts to strip the EPA of the authority to regulate greenhouse gases. The UAW is “concerned about the effects of human-induced climate change for themselves and for future generations,” he wrote to Congress in April.
While trying to triangulate a deal that would exempt trucks from the 56 MPG standard, King let the cat out of the bag on the real goal of Obama’s mandate.Greens have disputed Alliance claims that the 56 MPG standard is a de facto mandate for electric cars.
“The government has got to play a role,” he told Detroit talk show host Frank Beckmann this morning. “(Energy Department loans for green manufacturing) are helping the companies transition to electric vehicles.”
Glad we cleared that up.