When You Can’t Get the Enviro Whackos in Maine to Bite on EVs, Your Green Grift’s Got Big Problems – HotAir

March 22, 2024

Gracious goodness, this had to be something of a Green grift gut punch. The New England states, particularly those wild-eyed, unpredictable Mainers, are always ripe for a good “save the world” scheme. I know certain parties felt this was destined to be yet another.

The Maine Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) met yesterday for a long-awaited – and highly controversial – final round of arguments and vote on a state-wide electric vehicle mandate. The proposed regulation was modeled on California’s draconian ICE to EV statute.

Maine environmental regulators are set to decide whether the state will join a growing number of states adopting new standards designed to grow the use of electric vehicles.

The rules, which originated in California, would require an increasing percentage of new light-duty vehicles to be zero emission vehicles every year. The new standards would start with 51% in 2028 and grow to 82% by 2032.

What’s interesting is that the genesis of this mandate drive for the whole state was spurred by activists and a progressive governor – Janet Mills – jumping on a measly 150-person signature petition. It made perfect sense because it provided the radical Democrat in the governor’s mansion a way to circumvent the state legislature, which contains enough Republican members to be troublesome.

…Last year, a citizen petition initiated by the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) was submitted to Maine BEP asking for “the requirements of the California Advanced Clean Cars II” to be incorporated into Maine’s existing regulatory code.

Although only 150 people Maine residents signed the petition, it set in motion a bureaucratic process that could have allowed the Mills Administration to impose sweeping controls on what kinds of vehicles can be sold in Maine — all without the approval of Maine’s elected lawmakers.

As with the eco-terrorists slopping paint on priceless art or gluing themselves and their Doc Martins to roadways to interrupt traffic, the activists knee-deep in the underhanded effort to mandate what Maine residents would be allowed to purchase and use for transportation – the Natural Resources Council of Maine – weren’t as good at walking the EV walk as they were dictating the talk to everyone else.

The Natural Resources Council of Maine was one of the organizations leading the charge on EV mandates.

There was not a single EV or EV charger in their parking lot when we visited. pic.twitter.com/FEIpNFemiH

— The Maine Wire (@TheMaineWire) March 20, 2024

The Green hypocrisy is blatant and never-ending.

So the BEP got together, banged heads, listened to the public…

…Wednesday’s meeting went on for several hours and consisted of a brief period of public comment, a back-and-forth with Department staff, and a lengthy deliberation among Board members.

During this time, some members of the Board emphasized the expected environmental benefits of the proposal, suggesting that targeted action regarding automobile emissions would be the state’s best bet for reducing the degree to which Maine negatively impacts the environment, given that this has been estimated to be the state’s largest source of carbon emissions.

…mulled over some commonsense considerations…

…Others on the Board brought to the forefront a variety of concerns that Mainers have raised over the past few months with regard to this proposal, including a lack of charging infrastructure, insufficient electrical grid capacity, accessibility for lower income Mainers, decreased functionality in cold weather, and government interference with market forces.

Although numerous technological advances alleviating a handful of these concerns have been promised, members of the Board expressed discomfort in moving forward with these rule changes given that so many uncertainties are still on the table.

Board members also questioned if it would be realistic to expect the Maine to go from having only a small percentage of new car sales be comprised of EVs to increasing this share to 51 percent over the course of just a few years.

CMP can’t even keep the electricity turned on in our homes half the time and the state is trying to force us to buy EV? Are they going to pay to install the charging station to my house that I can’t keep the power turned on in?

— Margo Lee 🍎👩🏻‍🌾🦺🚩🏴 (@MargoLee) March 20, 2024

…and voted NO.

…At the close of Wednesday’s meeting, the Maine BEP brought months of deliberation over the controversial EV mandate to a close, voting 4-2 in opposition to adopting the proposal.

They voted “no.” The responsible, levelheaded “no.”

How refreshing is that?