Connecticut lawmakers continue to target truck drivers as the poster child for carbon emissions and a new law exerts tremendous pressure to purchase new Class 8 vehicles.
“The transportation sector is the number one polluter in Connecticut. We recently passed the Clean Air Act, which takes bold steps to decarbonize our transportation system, making it easier and cheaper for everyone to reduce their carbon footprint,” Gov. Ned Lamont reportedly tweeted.
A recent law signed by Gov. Lamont empowers the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) to implement regulations on medium- and heavy-duty trucks that mirror California’s. Truckers from the New England state can anticipate higher emissions standards and rollbacks on older rigs. Such regulations force fleets and owner-operators to purchase newer rigs or have their registration rejected. In the Port of Vancouver, Canada, truckers waged a protest after such regulations effectively banned them from entering the facility.
“In addition to the important health benefits to residents, the measures in this law provide much-needed tools in our effort to make significant reductions in GHG emissions from the transportation sector, an area in which we need to make significant progress in order to get back on track to meet our 2030 GHG emissions target,” DEEP Commissioner Katie Dykes reportedly said.
Connecticut lawmakers have been no friend to the truckers who deliver 72 percent of the state’s products and materials. When fuel prices abruptly skyrocketed during the spring, lawmakers passed a measure to scuttle the state’s fuel tax. But the fuel tax holiday did not apply to diesel at the pump, despite the cost being a leading inflation metric. According to reports, the Connecticut law includes the following provisions.
- Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicle Standards: Authorizes the DEEP commissioner to adopt regulations implementing California’s medium- and heavy-duty motor vehicle standards. These standards will ensure that manufacturers are producing cleaner vehicles and offering them for sale in Connecticut, giving prospective consumers more options while reducing a major source of in-state air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
- Medium and Heavy-Duty Truck Vouchers: Allows DEEP to establish a voucher program to support the use of zero-emission medium and heavy-duty vehicles and funds the program from the Connecticut Hydrogen and Electric Automobile Purchase Rebate (CHEAPR) account.
- New Construction Electric Vehicle Charging Requirements: Requires a certain percentage of parking spaces in certain new construction to be equipped with either EV charging stations or charging station infrastructure.
- Zero-Emission School Buses: Allows for ten-year school transportation contracts if the contract includes at least one zero-emission school bus; sets a target of 100 percent zero-emission school buses in environmental justice communities by 2030, and for all school districts by 2040.
The legislation establishes upwards of $15 million in business vouchers to help buy new commercial motor vehicles that meet California standards and $20 million in grants for zero-emission school bus fleets.
Sources:
https://www.ctinsider.com/news/article/CT-enacts-clean-air-law-to-shift-state-vehicles-17323379.php
https://www.truckinginfo.com/10177596/connecticut-law-targets-truck-emissions
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