Tell Chris Christie: Stop blocking Tesla from selling electric vehicles in New Jersey.
Governor Chris Christie just caved to auto dealers and banned Tesla Motors from selling electric cars in New Jersey.
New Jersey is now the fifth state nationwide to enact a ban, after the National Auto Dealers Association has spent millions in campaign contributions and lobbying to challenge Tesla’s direct-to-consumer sales model.
With similar attacks threatening to spread to other states and slow advancements in clean electric cars, we need to push back hard on Gov. Chris Christie's decision now.
This ban makes New Jersey the fifth state to completely ban Tesla sales - joining Arizona, Maryland, Texas, and Virginia - and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has already told autodealers there that he will sign a ban that makes it to his desk.
But the decision is especially surprising and hypocritical coming from Gov. Christie. After Hurricane Sandy, he knows the damage that climate change poses to our communities as well as anyone. With transportation making up more than a quarter of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, he should be welcoming Tesla's innovations in clean transportation - not making it harder for people to get access to clean electric vehicles.
And less than two weeks ago, at the conservative CPAC conference, Governor Christie said, “We need to talk about the fact that we’re for a free-market society that allows your effort and your ingenuity to determine your success, not the cold, hard hand of government determining winners and losers.”
But blocking innovation is exactly what he is now doing. And if we don’t push back, more states including New York, could be next.
Sources:
1. "How Auto Dealers Are Muscling State Legislatures Into Barring Tesla Motors". Alex Kane. AlterNet. March 17, 2014.
2. "Free-Market Cheerleader Chris Christie Blocks Tesla Sales in New Jersey". Will Oremus. Slate. March 12, 2014.
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