Bernie Sanders’ green deal – $216 billion for electric trucks

Bernie Sanders wants to spend $216 billion to replace all long-haul diesel trucks with fast-charging electric trucks if he is elected president in 2020. “Because this nation depends heavily on goods that are shipped all over the country by truckers, we must ensure that they are able to keep up their pace while we meet our climate goals,” Sanders argued. “Truck drivers from the largest fleets to small owner-operators will be able to access this funding.” The proposal is part of the candidate’s $16.3 trillion “Green New Deal,” unveiled on August 22, which sets an ambitious goal for the United States of 100 percent renewable energy for transportation by 2030 and complete decarbonization by 2050. “We will create domestic energy alternatives to power our cars and trucks and move our transportation sector beyond oil by running our cars and trucks on renewable sources,” according to Sanders’ plan. “We will build affordable, reliable, quick and efficient public transportation, and high-speed passenger and cargo rail. And we will create millions of good-paying, unionized jobs building the automobile fleet of the future.” Sanders takes the name for his environmental strategy from the “Green New Deal” offered up in a “non-binding resolution” earlier this year in the U.S. Congress by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) and Senator Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts). The resolution calls for “overhauling transportation systems in the United States to eliminate pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector as much as technologically feasible,” through investments in zero-emission vehicles and high-speed rail.