Who: Maine Board of Environmental Protections
What: Public hearing on adoption of Chapter 128 Advanced Clean Trucks Program
When: TOMORROW, August 17 at 09:00 am
Where: Augusta Civic Center
Comment deadline: August 28 at 5:00 pm
Talking points are available here.
Please consider attending; submitting comments!
Environmental Advocates have launched a new effort to control the type of vehicle truckers can purchase by petitioning Maine’s Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) to adopt California’s Advanced Clean Truck Rules (Mandatory Electric Heavy Duty Truck Sales).
If adopted, this California policy will disrupt Maine’s market-based approach to reducing greenhouse gases. We all know Maine’s forest industry is dependent on heavy duty trucks for moving over 15 million tons of wood to mills and then shipping wood products to consumers up and down the East Coast.
MFPC has once again joined the Mainers for Smart Energy Coalition in strong opposition to the adoption of these rules for a number of reasons including:
- Maine’s grid cannot sustain Medium and Heavy-Duty (M&HD) vehicle electrification without significant investment – we would need to increase generation by at least 60% according to the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI.)
- Maine’s charging infrastructure is not even close to being ready for Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEV’s.)
- The cost of M&HD ZEV’s is significantly greater than the diesel equivalent.
- Range anxiety. For M&HD users who are critical to the supply chain, this will create unnecessary chaos.
- Truck availability continues to be problematic and is a major consideration before investing in expensive charging and utility upgrades.
- Reliability is a concern. Our cold weather climate and heavy-duty applications are not well suited to electrification technology.
- Many commercial truck uses will require an additional power source.
For more information, view the fact sheet here.
Email your comments to the agency contact, Lynne Cayting, or use the Smart Energy Action Center here.