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The Morning After: Wyoming wants to phase out new EV sales by 2035

Yes, you read that right.

Bing Guan / reuters

While other US states (and the rest of the world) inch towards goals of banning gasoline-powered cars, Wyoming is going in the opposite direction. The state’s legislature is considering a resolution that calls for a phase-out of new electric vehicle sales by 2035. Introduced on Friday, Senate Joint Resolution 4 has support from members of the state’s House of Representatives and Senate. The resolution says the state would need to build “massive amounts of new power generation” to “sustain the misadventure of electric vehicles.” Its goal is to phase out the sales of EVs entirely by 2035. Yes, EVs.

In the proposal, a group of lawmakers led by Senator Jim Anderson says Wyoming’s “proud and valued” oil and gas industry has created “countless” jobs and contributed revenue to the state. They add that a lack of charging infrastructure in Wyoming would make the widespread use of EVs “impracticable.” The legislation may partially be a political stunt, but Wyoming produced 85.43 million barrels of oil in 2021 – it’s a crucial part of the state’s economy. But, Wyoming’s Carbon County also has one of the largest wind farms in the US.

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

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Your Stadia controller won’t just be a paperweight after the service shuts down

Google’s game-streaming service shutters tomorrow.

Google has confirmed it will release a tool to enable Bluetooth support on the Stadia controller. You'll have to wait until next week to download it, but this should make the device useful for just about any title with gamepad support. Stadia as we know it is about to end, but Google's Immersive Stream for Games should ensure the cloud functionality lives on for other companies offering game streams. The team behind Stadia has also released a Snake clone, Worm Game, as a final gift to users.

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High-powered lasers used to steer lightning strikes

The technology could protect rocket launchpads and power plants.

TMA
TMA (University of Geneva)

Lightning rods, your time is up. European researchers have successfully tested a system that uses terawatt-level laser pulses to steer lightning toward a 26-foot rod. It's not limited by its height and can cover much wider areas – in this case, 590 feet – while penetrating clouds and fog. The laser ionizes nitrogen and oxygen molecules, releasing electrons and creating a plasma that conducts electricity. As the laser fires at a very quick 1,000 pulses per second, it's more likely to intercept lightning as it forms.

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