Passenger cars and trucks are the largest source of climate pollution in Maryland’s transportation sector, followed by medium- and-heavy duty vehicles (large trucks, school buses, delivery vans, etc.). Exhaust from vehicles is a leading source of harmful pollution that sends countless Maryland residents to the hospital every year.
Residential neighborhoods located near major roads and highways face disproportionate burdens from traffic and transportation pollution. These neighborhoods are far more often communities of color due to decades of residential segregation, and bear a burden of unsafe pedestrian conditions, higher rates of asthma, and unremitting noise pollution.
Though medium- and heavy-duty trucks and buses make up only nine percent of the state’s 4.2 million registered vehicles, they contribute a disproportionate 39 percent of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions in the state, 48 percent of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and 21 percent of global warming emissions from all on-road vehicles in the state.
Below are Maryland Sierra Club’s goals related to vehicle electrification:
- Maryland adopts California’ Low NOx Heavy Duty Omnibus regulation, requiring that NOx standards would be cut to about 75 percent below current standards beginning in 2024 and 90 percent below current standards in 2027.
- School districts submit applications to EPA for funding electric school buses in the Clean Buses program.
- School districts participate in the electric school bus pilot program with utilities.
- Maryland spends hundreds of millions of state and federal funds on the build out of an electric vehicle charging network for light, medium, and heavy duty vehicles that prioritizes communities heavily impacted by diesel pollution, communities historically excluded from investments, and results in the creation of quality jobs.
Below are some of our previous campaign wins related to vehicle electrification:
- In 2023 Maryland adopted the Advanced Clean Cars II program, requiring that 100% of light duty vehicle sales are electric by 2035.
- In 2023, Maryland adopted the Advanced Clean Truck rule, requiring that manufacturers sell an increasing percentage of new zero-emission trucks and school buses every year
If you’d like to volunteer to support these efforts contact transportation@mdiserra.org