Affordable Clean Cars Coalition launches in the USA
The U.S. Climate Alliance announced the launch of the Affordable Clean Cars Coalition by 11 of its member governors to sustain America’s transition to cleaner and more affordable cars, support U.S. automotive manufacturers and workers, and preserve states’ clean air authority. Alongside the launch, the Alliance announced the availability of resources to help states tackle vehicle pollution and lower barriers for consumers to more affordably own, drive, charge, and maintain clean cars.
Specifically, the initiators have committed their states to collaborate on the development of solutions to make EVs more affordable, “including by reducing cost barriers, increasing availability of options, and expanding accessible charging and fueling infrastructure at home and in our communities.”
The individual states will also continue making progress toward the goals of states’ clean vehicle programs. Next to electric vehicles, other technologies are to be explored as well, in order to reduce vehicle pollution in general, such as low-carbon fuels.
The promised communication will not only include the members states, but they also plan to engage with the entire value chain, including “manufacturers, suppliers, dealers, labor unions, business associations, utilities, community-based organizations, charging and fueling infrastructure providers, and others in developing and successfully implementing state transportation solutions.”
“The federal government and Congress are putting polluters over people and creating needless chaos for consumers and the market, but our commitment to safeguarding Americans’ fundamental right to clean air is resolute. We will continue collaborating as states and leveraging our longstanding authority under the Clean Air Act, including through state programs that keep communities safe from pollution, create good-paying jobs, increase consumer choice, and help Americans access cleaner and more affordable cars,” the iniatiators said in a joint statement, adding: “As we consider next steps for our clean vehicle programs, our states will engage stakeholders and industry to provide the regulatory certainty needed while redoubling our efforts to build a cleaner and healthier future.”
Among the members of the initiative are California, Colorado, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington State. The governors of these states have clashed with the Trump administration over the proliferation and subsidisation of cleaner vehicles, so it comes as little surprise that the states are taking things into their own hands. All of the states had used the authority granted under the Clean Air Act to establish their own, stricter emissions standards compared to the federal government.
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