An electric vehicle is plugged into a charger in Los Angeles, Aug. 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
The rollout of potential regulations to drastically cut gas-powered vehicle sales in Maine was pushed back by a year because environmental regulators had to delay a key vote after a storm caused widespread power outages.
The Board of Environmental Protection postponed its Dec. 21 vote and won’t reconvene before year’s end. The delay means the proposed rules must be amended to go into effect for vehicles in the 2028 model year instead of the 2027 model year, and also reopened for public comment, said Jeff Crawford, director of the Bureau of Air Quality for the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.
The original proposal would eventually require 82% of new vehicles sold to be considered zero emissions by the 2032 model year. A dozen states have already signed onto California’s standards for boosting electric vehicle sales and reducing traditional vehicle sales to meet climate goals.
Critics of the environmental regulations were happy to get a second chance to weigh in. Additional public comments are allowed through Feb. 5.
House Republican Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, an opponent of the proposed regulations, said widespread power outages would've made it difficult to charge electric cars, underscoring the need to reconsider the proposal.
If proponents insist on looking to California for modeling policies, “the next step is to outlaw chainsaws and generators,” he said.
But the Natural Resources Council of Maine, which supports the new rules, noted that climate change likely contributed to the storm and "should serve as a stark reminder that protecting Maine people and Maine’s environment requires decisive action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions."
The proposal followed an unorthodox path using a process by which any Maine resident can submit an agenda item with 150 signatures of registered voters.
That process has been used a handful of times over the years with the Board of Environmental Protection, a citizen board appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate.
A legislative package to end the government shutdown appears on track. A handful of Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to advance the bill after what's become a deepening disruption of federal programs and services. But hurdles remain. Senators are hopeful they can pass the package as soon as Monday and send it to the House. What’s in and out of the bipartisan deal has drawn criticism and leaves few senators fully satisfied. The legislation includes funding for SNAP food aid and other programs while ensuring backpay for furloughed federal workers. But it fails to fund expiring health care subsidies Democrats have been fighting for, pushing that debate off for a vote next month.
Sabrina Siddiqui, National Politics Reporter at The Wall Street Journal, joins to break down the SNAP funding delays and the human cost of the ongoing shutdown.
Arguments at the Supreme Court have concluded for the day as the justices consider President Donald Trump's sweeping unilateral tariffs in a trillion-dollar test of executive power.
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
