We are super excited about the sunnier and longer days, as well as seeing long-asleep plants begin to bloom. There is a lot of uncertainty at the federal level and about the future of the car industry, but we are here to deliver some positive news about the electric vehicle (EV) market.
In Massachusetts, third-party electric suppliers, also called “competitive suppliers”, are allowed to sell electricity directly to residential customers of Eversource, National Grid, and Unitil (although the cost of delivering the power is always charged by the local utility). While the idea behind allowing these companies to operate was that they would increase competition and bring down electric prices, this is not how things have worked in practice.
For the past several weeks, we’ve been working hard on a campaign to protect key regulations, called Advanced Clean Cars II (ACCII), which would have steadily increased the supply of electric vehicles (EVs) available to drivers in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, such that 100% of new car sales would have to be electric by 2035. These regulations were key to both Massachusetts’ and Rhode Island’s climate plans. Now, they’re off the table.
For those of us working on the clean energy transition, professionally or as volunteers, the last few months have been awful in many ways. We’re seeing policies change for the worse, funding cuts, and layoffs. The planetary consequences are real, but there’s also an enormous human impact on all the people who have made working on the transition either their vocation or avocation.
Frequent readers of our blog know that our mission is to make it easier for consumers to switch away from fossil fuels for their homes and transportation. Every policy change that we advocate is intended to remove barriers and prioritize the implementation of non-polluting ways of meeting our needs. This work of greening our grid, our roadways, and our buildings includes the major industries that offer employment and generate goods and services that we all depend upon.
On Wednesday, May 14, the energy committee in the Massachusetts legislature will hold a hearing on bills related to electric transportation – including four bills that would push back or remove altogether the deadline to phase out new gas-powered cars in Massachusetts and weaken the primary tool we have to facilitate this transition. Massachusetts residents, we need you to testify and/or send in written comments in opposition.
Clean car regulations are under attack federally and here in Massachusetts. We wrote about these attacks on April 25, held a webinar on May 1, and submitted joint letter signed by 70 organizations to Governor Maura Healey on May 2. All along the way, we’ve tried to dispel misinformation and disinformation about these key regulations. Last week, the Massachusetts State Auto Dealer Association made a claim in a Boston Globe article about the subject that incorrectly frames how these regulations work. As part of our Truth to Power campaign, we want to set the record straight.
We talk about electric vehicles (EVs) from a climate and consumer perspective all the time, but in honor of World Asthma Day, we’ve done a deep dive into particulate matter (PM) emissions, their impact on public health, and how EVs have lower rates of PM emissions when you look at both exhaust and non-exhaust sources.
Anna Vanderspek
andCaitlyn Rodriguez
About a week ago, we began hearing rumors that Governor Healey was being pressured by the auto industry to delay implementation of the Advanced Clean Cars (ACC2) rule. ACC2 would, starting with model year 2026, require automakers to gradually increase the percentage of new cars sold in the Bay State that are electric. The Department of Environmental Protection adopted the regulations after an open public process way back in 2023, so it’s disheartening to know that this issue is on the table at all. The transportation sector is the leading cause of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Massachusetts, and ACC2 is, by far, the most important policy for reducing those emissions.
This year, our top legislative priority in Rhode Island is the Building Decarbonization Act (H5493/S91), because the Ocean State is not currently on track to achieve the emissions reductions required by the Act on Climate. This is especially true in the building sector, which makes up over 35% of the state’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
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