Photo by Dennis Schroeder, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Every person in Maine should be able to breathe clean, healthy air. Medium- and heavy-duty trucks are spewing dangerous air and climate-harming pollution into Maine communities every day. The Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) rule will clean up Maine’s air, help us meet our climate goals and save lives by cutting deadly diesel pollution.
Adopting the ACT rule in Maine will bring tremendous economic and health benefits to the state. The American Lung Association estimates that if Maine were to transition to clean energy generation and power from 2020-2050 the state would generate $4.5 billion in health benefits, avoid 31,000 lost work days and avoid 402 premature deaths. Already, many of Maine’s neighbors and states across the country have adopted the life-saving rule. On the East Coast, Vermont, New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts have adopted while Connecticut, Maryland and Rhode Island are moving through the rulemaking process.
Despite broad support from business, health and climate leaders, the trucking lobby, namely the American Trucking Association and its Maine affiliate Maine Motor Transport Association (MMTA), have fought to delay healthful air in Maine once again. The MMTA boasted about their success in defeating the proposed rule in 2021. At the last Maine DEP hearing, the board expressed that they will likely not move forward with the ACT rule despite the overwhelming positive benefits for the state. Maine is ready for clean air and cleaner trucks, we cannot let polluting interests defeat this rule again and lock our communities out of years of benefits.
Across the country, we have seen troubling attacks on clean truck rules spearheaded by the American Trucking Association. At the recent ATA conference, Chris Spear, the President and CEO of the organization, called supporters of clean trucking rules “delusional environmental extremists” The ATA’s California affiliate has also filed a lawsuit against clean truck rules to attempt to stall progress further. The ATA is importing its toxic national lobbying against common sense clean air rules into its state-level affiliates.
We know clean trucks and buses are good for Maine, and we cannot let a national campaign to attack clean air delay life-saving health benefits for our communities. We are calling on the Maine DEP to swiftly adopt the Advanced Clean Trucks rule and not let polluting interests block clean air progress for the state.