From the Daily Caller News Foundation 

By Nick Pope

Energy-focused organizations called on lawmakers to scrap the Biden-Harris administration’s electric vehicle (EV) “mandate” in a Thursday letter.

More than two dozen energy groups sent the letter to every lawmaker in Congress, urging them to push through Congressional Review Act (CRA) proceedings against the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) tailpipe emissions standards for light-duty vehicles. The CRA enables legislators to effectively overturn federal regulations provided a resolution targeting a specific rule can pass both chambers of Congress and gets signed by the president, or if lawmakers can manage to override a presidential veto, according to the Congressional Research Service.

“This EPA rulemaking is clearly beyond the scope of the regulatory power granted to the agency by Congress,” the letter states. “While this overreach will be litigated in the courts, a positive CRA decision now would ensure that consumers are protected today, rather than wait years for the issue to work its way through the court system.” CRA Tailpipe Coalition Letter Final by Nick Pope on Scribd

Specifically, automakers could come into compliance with the EPA’s rules if EVs make up 56% of their new car sales by 2032, with an additional 13% of sales being plug-in hybrids, according to The Associated Press. While the Biden-Harris administration maintains that the regulations are not an EV mandate, critics say that the rules will effectively force manufacturers to increase EV production to such an extent that they amount to a de facto mandate.

The Biden-Harris administration has set a target of having 50% of all new car sales be EVs by 2030 as part of its broader green energy and climate agenda. Despite billions of dollars of spending and stringent regulation, American consumers remain hesitant to switch over to all-electric models while manufacturers are losing large amounts of cash on their EV product lines and starting to back off of ambitious short-term production goals.

“In a move that shocks no one, the Biden-Harris EPA has once again overstepped its authority with their EV mandate. By prioritizing politics over personal freedoms, this Administration is destroying the cornerstone of our economy — consumer choice,” Tom Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance, said. “What the Biden-Harris Administration is trying to do with his mandate is deceptive, ill-advised, and a gross overreach of power. While it will undoubtedly be litigated by those who stand on the side of consumer choice and economic freedom, passage of the CRA resolution will ensure consumers are protected today.”

Beyond the American Energy Alliance, other signatories include Americans for Prosperity, the Western Energy Alliance, Heritage Action, the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Always On Energy Research.

From the Daily Caller News Foundation 

By Jake Smith

A second wave of blasts swept through Lebanon on Wednesday as more communication devices used by Hezbollah suddenly exploded, according to several reports.

Hand-held radios used by Hezbollah terrorists abruptly exploded in southern Lebanon and the country’s capital of Beirut on Wednesday, according to Reuters. It marks yet another blow to Hezbollah, which the day prior had a large number of its terrorist fighters’ pager devices abruptly explode, causing thousands of injuries.

The devices that detonated on Wednesday appeared to be walkie-talkie devices rather than pagers, according to The Wall Street Journal. The exact size and scope of the attack are still unclear, but at least nine people have been killed and 300 have been injured, The Associated Press reported.

A #Hezbollah walkie talkie explodes at a funeral today in #Lebanon after yesterday’s exploding Hezbollah pagers. pic.twitter.com/b8TIfUUBKq

— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) September 18, 2024

Israel is believed to be behind the coordinated and remote attack on Tuesday, though that has not been confirmed by the Israeli or U.S. governments, according to multiple reports. Explosive devices were reportedly planted into the pagers before they made their way out of a supply and manufacturing chain — which initially was suspected to be in Taiwan — and were shipped to Hezbollah in recent months, according to American and other officials who spoke to The New York Times.

The Taiwanese company in question has denied that it produced the pagers, saying that they were manufactured under license by a company based in Hungary, according to Reuters.

The walkie-talkies that detonated on Wednesday were reportedly also shipped to Hezbollah in recent months, a security source told Reuters.

Significant damage appears to have been made to a motorcycle after a Hezbollah radio exploded. pic.twitter.com/57JfoWDmaQ

— Joe Truzman (@JoeTruzman) September 18, 2024

The official Lebanese news agency also reported that a number of home solar energy systems exploded in Beirut on Wednesday, though it’s unclear whether it was connected to the string of walkie-talkie detonations, according to multiple reports.

Hezbollah has frequently attacked Israel since Oct. 7, the date Hamas invaded Israel and killed roughly 1,200 people. The Hezbollah attacks have created a turbulent situation along the Israeli-Lebanese border and prompted Israeli forces to launch cross-border counterattacks.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reportedly told a U.S. envoy on Monday that the time for a diplomatic solution had “passed because Hezbollah continues to tie itself to Hamas and refuses to end the conflict,” according to Axios.