Maine will consider next week whether or not to implement new clean vehicle standards similar to California’s regulations.
The Maine Board of Environmental Protection voted in October to move forward with the proposal and will now decide on adoption. Designed to put more electric vehicles on the road and phase out gas-powered cars, the regulation would go into effect for the model year 2027, requiring at least 43% of new vehicles to have zero emissions by then and 82% of new vehicles to have zero emissions by 2032.
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Several states have mandates modeled after California’s Advanced Clean Cars II plan, which was adopted in 2022 and is considered to contain the most ambitious regulations to date. Full compliance is set for 2035, when all new light-duty vehicle sales must be 100% zero-emission, including fuel cell electric vehicles, battery electric vehicles, and hybrid electric vehicles.
Earlier this year, the Natural Resources Council of Maine collected 150 signatures for a citizen petition to ask the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to adopt the regulations.
The petition was supported by the Conservation Law Foundation and the Sierra Club, while the Maine Department of Environmental Protection hasn’t taken a stance.
Natural Resources Council of Maine Climate and Clean Energy Outreach Coordinator Josh Caldwell said adopting the regulations before the end of the year is the state’s “best opportunity to reduce emissions from our most-polluting sector and bring down the prices of electric cars and trucks.”
“These commonsense standards, in tandem with investments in public transit and active transportation trails for biking and walking, are the key to getting all Mainers to jobs, schools, and services without damaging our climate,” Caldwell said in a recent blog post.
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Opposition has emerged among Maine’s Republican lawmakers, with state House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham and Assistant House Minority Leader Amy Arata urging the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to deny the proposed regulations because they “go too far” and “too fast.”
“Republicans are environmental stewards. We support the encouragement of fuel-efficient vehicle options for consumers that fit their needs — whatever they may be,” Faulkingham and Arata said in a letter to the agency this summer. “What we do not support is government mandates which limit choice and hurt the Mainers we represent.”
