By Bill Beren • Transportation Committee Chair
Given the sustained attacks by the Trump administration on the environmental and climate initiatives begun under President Biden, it is unclear where we will be at the end of March when you are reading this column, which I wrote in February.
Will the Republican-controlled Senate and House enshrine these attacks through legislation, or will the courts successfully block Trump’s interference with congressionally mandated spending? When former President Biden tried something similar, the Supreme Court ruled that he didn’t have the authority to go beyond congressional intent on issues ranging from environmental policies to student loan forgiveness. Only time will give us answers to these questions.
So, I want to focus first on recent successes on the transportation front.
In October, the first round of state grants under the NJ Electric School Bus Program were granted, funding 48 new buses to 14 school districts, school bus contractors, and private schools. The bill that is funding these grants was written by the NJ Chapter Transportation Committee. The whole $15 million available under the program was allocated to the grants. There should be two more funding cycles.
In January, the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced a new funding cycle to enable local governments to replace diesel-powered trucks and buses with zero-emission, battery electric vehicles (EVs). Vehicles eligible under the grant program include (but are not limited to) shuttles, transit buses, garbage trucks, dump trucks, and small, Type A/B school buses. Type C/D school buses will be funded by the Electric School Bus Program, which is expected to be open for funding in spring of 2025.
In December, the DEP announced that there were 200,000 electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles registered in NJ compared with 91,000 EVs at the beginning of 2023.
Forbes magazine reported that 2024 EV sales nationwide represented 8% of total passenger vehicles. Also, according to Forbes and the Environmental Defense Fund, US investments in EVs have more than tripled since 2021, and the United States has attracted more private EV manufacturing investments than any other region, surpassing China’s long-standing dominance.
By September 2024, private companies had announced $209 billion in investments for EV and battery manufacturing in the United States. This spending is projected to create over 240,000 manufacturing jobs. Over three-quarters of these investments are either currently under construction or already operational as of October 2024, Forbes said, citing a report from Atlas Public Policy and Bluegreen Alliance Foundation.
Most of the investment cited was the result of incentives included in the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act and bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The beneficiaries of this money have mostly been states that tend to vote Republican, so hopefully Republican congressional delegations and governors will act to protect the jobs and tax base these programs have created in their states.
On the negative side, incentives for clean transportation, including the $7,500 tax rebate for buying an EV, the $40,000 tax credit to school districts to buy electric school buses, and the remainder of the $5 billion Clean School Bus Program have been placed on the chopping block by the Trump administration. Even worse, the administration is attempting to claw back grants to districts that have not yet committed funds to purchase their vehicles. The Clean School Bus Program has awarded almost $35 million to 18 school districts and contractors in New Jersey to purchase electric school buses.
At the state level, legislation was introduced and pushed through the Assembly Transportation and Independent Authorities Committee that would require a two-year pause in the implementation of the Advanced Clean Truck Rule. This rule was adopted by Gov. Phil Murphy last year and, like Advanced Clean Cars II, sets goals for the percentage of truck sales in the state that meet zero emission standards. The two-year mandated pause sought by the trucking industry, supported by all 13 members of the committee, is redundant, because the industry, essentially, has already met the goals for 2025, and the regulations allow for future goals to be deferred with no penalty if the industry fails to meet 2026 goals.
Nationally, the Trump administration is seeking legislation to repeal California’s ability to set air quality standards and automobile efficiency standards that exceed the national standards under the 1970 Clean Air Act. Under this law, other states like New Jersey have the ability to adopt California’s standards, which New Jersey has consistently done. It is under this authority that New Jersey was able to adopt the Advanced Clean Cars II and Advanced Clean Truck rules.
We can only wait and see how this plays out as the year progresses.
Resources
EDF report: https://shorturl.at/Jm7QB
Atlas/Bluegreen report: https://shorturl.at/5s5IW