Special Interest Groups Want to Slash Clean Vehicle Programs Across the Country – And They’re Starting With Maryland
What is the Clean Cars II and Clean Truck Program?
Maryland has been a part of the highly successful Clean Cars program since 2007. In 2023, as required by the Maryland General Assembly, the Maryland Department of the Environment adopted the Advanced Clean Cars II (ACC II) rule – a new phase of the clean cars program and Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) rule. These rules require vehicle manufacturers to sell an increasing percentage of zero-emission passenger cars, school buses, trucks, and delivery vans from Model Years 2027 through 2035. Section 177 of the Clean Air Act allows states to adopt vehicle emissions standards that are more strict than federal standards if they are identical to those adopted by the state of California.
Eleven other states have adopted the Advanced Clean Cars II program and ten other states have adopted the Advanced Clean Trucks Rule.
What are the benefits of the clean vehicle programs?
Passenger cars, trucks, and other vehicles on our roads are the largest source of climate pollution in Maryland. Tailpipe pollution from cars, trucks, and buses spews large amounts of ozone and soot pollution that causes respiratory illnesses and other harms to our health. Communities of color and low-income communities living near busy roads, highways, and warehouses bear an especially unfair burden of harmful air pollution due to decades of systematic marginalization.
Programs like Clean Cars II and Clean Trucks are critical to helping reduce air pollution from our transit sector since they would help cut nitrogen oxide (NOx) from passenger cars and trucks.
In fact, the Advanced Clean Cars II standard would:
- Cut nitrogen oxide (NOx) pollution (which is a main contributor to smog) by 75 percent from passenger cars and trucks by 2035.
- Reduce carbon pollution from passenger cars and trucks by 73 percent by 2035.
- Provide $603 million in public health benefits per year due to decreases in respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses and associated lost work days
According to a report by (ERM), the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the ACT rule is estimated to reduce Maryland’s annual fleet greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent below 2022 levels by 2050 and avoid over 38,000 cases of acute bronchitis, exacerbated asthma, and other respiratory symptoms in Marylanders. In addition, Maryland fleets would save $498 million in 2050 under ACT. The ACT program is already a success. In California, the state has exceeded its ACT goal two years ahead of schedule, reaching five times the required sales numbers.
Who wants to rollback these programs?
Recent attacks on Clean Cars II programs and Clean Trucks programs are happening nation-wide by vehicle manufacturers in an attempt to roll back enforcement of the standards.
Manufacturers already have 3 years to make up any “deficits” if they do not meet the sales requirements in a given model year for the Advanced Clean Cars II rule. MDE can adopt an amendment to extend this three year compliance window for the Advanced Clean Trucks rule.
This effectively means that any penalties assessed for the failure to comply with Model Year 2027 requirements would happen at the earliest in 2031. Any attempt to roll back or delay these standards before requiring that the manufacturers even try to meet these requirements will have a major impact on our abilities to reduce air pollution.
What’s at Stake?
Delaying enforcement or rolling back clean vehicle programs will have harmful impacts on our public health and environment. These standards are necessary for Maryland to meet federal air quality standards and to cut unhealthy air pollution. The Baltimore region and Cecil county are failing to meet air quality standards for ozone (smog pollution). There is simply no other means for these areas to cut ozone pollution by the amount necessary to meet these standards without reducing vehicle emissions. The clean cars and trucks programs are expected to avoid thousands of cases of respiratory illnesses caused by tailpipe pollution.
Additionally, according to the Maryland Department of Legislative Services, the Advanced Clean Cars II program requires stronger point of sale protections for electric vehicles, including a minimum battery warranty of 8 years or 100,000 miles. Rolling back this rule would take these consumer protections off the table.
Recent Action
We succeeded in preventing a bill (HB 1556) from passing either chamber that would have delayed enforcement of the rules, and would have set a dangerous legislative precedent. However, Governor Moore issued an executive order as the session was in its final days that is likely to delay enforcement of the program. The debate will now shift to administrative decisions available to the Department of the Environment. We expect to be highly engaged in these discussions along with our partners.
Clean air can’t wait.
If you would like to get involved with efforts to stop these rollbacks you can volunteer with our transportation committee by filling out this form.
Learn more about our other goals related to vehicle electrification here.
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Volunteer with the Maryland Sierra Club Transportation Committee