Release: Board of Environmental Protection Out of Touch with Maine Families
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 24, 2023
Contact: Jacob Posik
Director of Legislative Affairs
Office: 207.321.2550
Statement on Maine Board of Environmental Protection’s
Preliminary Support of Advanced Clean Cars Rule
Members of the Board of Environmental Protection are out of touch with the needs of Maine people and their support of EV mandates will cause untold hardship in the years to come
PORTLAND, Maine – Maine Policy Institute CEO Matthew Gagnon issued the following statement today in response to the Maine Board of Environmental Protection’s preliminary poll in support of Maine’s adoption of the Advanced Clean Cars rule:
“The implementation of the Advanced Clean Cars rule in Maine would do nothing to slow or stop climate change. No proponent of the program can even quantify what impact it would have on global temperatures in the Mills administration’s fight against climate change. The reality is Maine could eliminate all its emissions tomorrow and no measurable difference could be observed.
What is certain, however, is that forcing consumers to purchase zero-emission vehicles will impoverish Maine families and hurt those on the margins who are already struggling to make ends meet.
Embracing the adoption of the Advanced Clean Cars rule while balking at the Advanced Clean Truck rule makes little sense, since the realities for Maine businesses are the same for individual motorists.
The Maine Board of Environmental Protection could not be more out of touch with the needs of Maine people. IF the Board adopts the clean cars rule, lawmakers should take swift action to reverse their decision.
Lawmakers – not bureaucrats in Augusta – should have the final say over what types of cars Maine consumers can purchase. Adopting this rule and going down the path of eliminating consumer choice in the automobile market without the affirmative vote of Maine lawmakers is the epitome of the administrative state run amok.”
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Maine Policy Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to expand individual liberty and economic freedom in Maine. Learn more about our work at www.mainepolicy.org.