AUGUSTA, Maine — Proposals for Maine to phase out sales of gas-powered cars and trucks in favor of electric vehicles received hours of public comment Thursday.
So what happens next?
The Maine Board of Environmental Protection will consider the feedback that dozens of residents and officials provided during Thursday’s hearing and also accept emailed or written comments until Aug. 28.
Staff at the Department of Environmental Protection will then review all comments and ultimately develop a recommendation for the board on the two petitions that were led by the Natural Resources Council of Maine, Sierra Club and Conservation Law Foundation.
One petition requests that zero-emission vehicles make up 43 percent of new sales in Maine for model year 2027 and 82 percent of sales by model year 2032. The other seeks to incentivize the sale and increased use of electric medium- and heavy-duty trucks, similar to rules California adopted last year.
Supporters of the petitions submitted the proposed rule changes that do not require legislative proposal earlier this year through a little-known process that allows citizens to request regulatory changes by collecting at least 150 signatures.
Advocates said the Board of Environmental Protection is expected to vote on whether to adopt the two proposed rules by the end of this year, with the exact date not yet known.
But the decision will happen at a regularly scheduled meeting with an agenda posted ahead of time. Meetings generally happen on the first and third Thursday of each month, with the next one set for Sept. 7 at 9 a.m. in Room 118 of the Marquardt Building in Augusta.
Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat who appointed or reappointed each of the seven Board of Environmental Protection members, does not need to approve any decision. But her department’s stance on a recommendation is likely to reflect her opinion. She has indicated skepticism of following other states into mandates over the last few weeks.
If the board votes to adopt the rules, then next year would likely see DEP “doing lots of behind-the-scenes work to ready the programs for implementation,” said Conservation Law Foundation senior attorney Emily Green.
If the board decides to substantially change the rules, with some limitations on their ability to do that under existing statutes, then the modified proposals would get another public hearing.
Aside from this process, Green also said she expects “indirectly related things” to move forward next year, such as with the state’s Clean Transportation Roadmap and utility grid modernization work that is before the Maine Public Utilities Commission.
For more information on the two petitions, visit maine.gov/dep/rules. Public comments can be emailed until Aug. 28 to [email protected].
