ALBANY, New York (LifeSiteNews) – New York will join California in outlawing all new gas-powered car sales by 2035, according to an announcement from Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul.
Hochul ordered the “State Department of Environmental Conservation to take major regulatory action that will require all new passenger cars, pickup trucks, and SUVs sold in New York State to be zero emissions by 2035,” her office announced on September 29.
UPDATE (01/30/23): Mark Houck has been AQUITTED on both charges!
Thanks be to God LifeSiteNews can report that Mark Houck has been found "Not Guilty" on all counts today.
In a statement to LifeSiteNews, Pro-Life Coalition of Pennsylvania spokeswoman and Houck family friend Ashley Garecht said “We rejoice and celebrate that Mark Houck has been found not guilty on all counts.”
“This case was always about a father’s right to protect his son, and never had anything to do with the FACE act,” she said. “We are grateful to the judge for his integrity, and to the jurors for their thoughtful deliberations. We are grateful to Mark’s attorneys who labored so diligently in his defense. And we are grateful for all of those who surrounded and supported Mark and his family in prayer through this challenging ordeal.”
“Most of all we praise and thank God for his protection and provision,” Garecht added. “To Him be all the glory.”
The Thomas More Society is set to hold a press conference today on the 6th street side of the James A. Byrne U.S. Courthouse, 601 Market Street, Philadelphia.
Monday’s verdict came after a tense weekend wait following a deadlocked jury on Friday.
Several hours into Monday’s deliberations after the jury reconvened, an alternate was chosen to replace one of the jurors. Just before 3:00 p.m. EST, the jury delivered its verdict, acquitting Houck on both charges.
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Mark Houck, a pro-life Catholic father of 7, became the latest victim of an FBI raid and arrest on the morning of Friday September 23 — for supposed “FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) Act” violations — at his rural home as his children looked on “screaming.”
The arrest and raid stems from an altercation with a Planned Parenthood worker.
According to Mark’s wife Ryan-Marie, a “pro-abortion protester” would verbally harrass Mark's 12-year old son — hurling vulgar and derogatory statements.
When the protestor encroached in the boy's space, Mark defended his son. At that point, “Mark shoved him away from his child, and the guy fell back,” Ryan-Marie recounts.
The protestor was not injured, but he tried to sue Mark Houck for the assault but his case was thrown out of court in the early summer.
WE CANNOT ALLOW THE LEFT TO HARRASS PRO-LIFE ADVOCATES THIS WAY!
It's vital to stand in solidarity with a pro-family and pro-life man being unjustly persecuted - please SIGN & SHARE our message of support now.
In case you hadn't caught on already, the satanic Biden administration is waging war on Christians. https://t.co/E6ChpZVDYW
— Michael (X) Knowles ✊ (@michaeljknowles) September 24, 2022
The description of this arrest sounds like it took place in a totalitarian state. A tragic unraveling of Justice in America. https://t.co/e3vEID7E39
— Bishop J. Strickland (@Bishopoftyler) September 25, 2022
If convicted, Houck faces up to a maximum of 11 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and fines of up to $350,000, according to the Justice Department.
Additional conservative pro-life leaders have weighed in — this is why we need your support ASAP.
“Just in the last few days we’ve seen some pretty glaring examples of what appear to be instances of DOJ [Department of Justice] overreach. You’ve got a Catholic father of seven who formed a group designed to encourage young men to be faithful to their commitments, arrested in front of his seven children just recently. You’ve got all these instances of overreach. It’s deeply concerning to us all. These are all things we’re gonna be looking into.” — US Senator Mike Lee
Tell the Houck family that you stand by them!
SIGN: We stand with pro-life Catholic dad of 7 raided by Biden’s FBI
Please share this petition widely. Let's stand in solidarity with Mark Houck and his family.
Thank you.
The effort is being supported by hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies. “This is a crucial regulatory step to achieving significant greenhouse gas emission reductions from the transportation sector and is complemented by new and ongoing investments also announced today, including electric vehicle infrastructure progress, zero-emission vehicle incentives, and ensuring New York’s communities benefit from historic federal climate change investments,” her office stated. The subsidies include $175 million in federal taxpayer funds to build more electrical vehicle charging stations.
The mandates for cars will begin soon, though. Hochul demanded that new regulations “require an increasing percentage of new light-duty vehicle sales to be zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) starting with 35 percent of sales in model year 2026, 68 percent of sales by 2030, and 100 percent of sales by 2035.”
“New pollutant standards for model year 2026 through model year 2034 passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty vehicles with internal combustion engines would also be required,” her office stated.
READ: Like COVID-19, climate alarmism is a tool global elites wield to control our lives
The state will spend at least $250 million of its taxpayers’ money as well, The Daily Wire reported.
For Hochul, this is not just an environmental issue, but also a social one. She referenced during her press conference on September 29 that there have been electric vehicles “over a hundred years” in New York. She said car manufacturers built electric vehicles so wives could “have some freedom” from “domestic servitude” while their husbands were at work. The electrical vehicles “gave women the freedom to drive,” since gas-powered cars were difficult for women to operate due to the heavy crank start.
A policy analyst with the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, a free-market environmental advocacy group, said that getting rid of gas-powered cars shows how elites have “contempt” for rural Americans.
“None of this march away from reliable, proven ICE [internal combustion engines] makes any sense to rural Americans, those who live in hurricane-prone areas, and anyone who drives cross-country,” Duggan Flanakin wrote. “Farmers today can run their tractors off biodiesel made right down the road and drive to distant towns for groceries and supplies in their 20-year-old pickups. Hurricanes, earthquakes, and other natural and human-caused disruptive events can shut down electric power for days in large areas. ”
“Imagine if 200 million internal combustion engine vehicle owners (or even 2 million) decided to work together to fight against the outrageous, unworkable, antidemocratic, and bankrupting mandates to force everyone into electric vehicles most cannot afford and do not want and to effectively exclude billions from being allowed to drive at all!” he wrote.
New electric vehicles range in cost from $27,000 to $181,000. Even liberal groups like Amnesty International have criticized electric car makers for their reliance on child labor to mine cobalt. Tesla owners also face the risk of their electric vehicles spontaneously combusting due to their lithium batteries.
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