by Alison Despathy
Part II of an open letter to Vermont legislators
On Thursday, March 27, the House Transportation Committee invited testimony on the Advanced Clean Car and Truck Regulations that were adopted by Vermont and several states choosing to follow California’s Clean Air Act Waiver. It was made abundantly clear how devastating these mandates have been to the vehicle industry in New York and Massachusetts, who also adopted these rules and are currently a year ahead in implementation.
We must prevent this widespread, small business economic destruction in Vermont. I implore you to watch this testimony to understand the urgent need to move House Bill 65 or Senate Bill 101 through this session and revoke the California Air Act Waiver. It is both disturbing and unclear why you have not received this testimony in your own committees.
The Advanced Clean Car and Truck regulations mandate that dealers keep a percentage of electric vehicles (EV) on their lots even if there is no demand or interest by consumers. Certain classes of electric trucks cost three times as much as new, efficient diesel trucks. In order to sell internal combustion engine vehicles, a certain amount of electric vehicles must be sold or there are financial penalties.
Dealers will struggle to sell electric vehicles if consumers do not want them. Fines are in place if they sell what consumers demand without meeting their EV sales quota. Would we ever do this to another business? Legislators tried to do this to our small local fuel dealers with the Clean Heat Standard and VT revolted.
Also vehicle dealers should not have to buy ‘clean car credits’ a/k/a carbon credits from Elon Musk in order to sell the cars that their customers want and need. Tesla earned $692 million from selling regulatory credits in the fourth quarter of 2024 alone. These credits contributed 30% of its 2024 fourth quarter net income of $2.33 billion. This is economic tyranny and ultimately transfers wealth from everyday working people to super billionaires. Please let’s see this for what it truly is and prevent the damage.
Customers will go out of state to purchase their vehicles and will even register their businesses in other states if they cannot purchase the vehicles they need. This is already happening in MA and NY as car and truck dealers are limited in their sales of internal combustion engines because the market for electric trucks is almost nonexistent at this time. This destroys the local economy and results in the loss of local jobs and businesses that are invested in our communities.
If we want to actually fight oligarchs, now is your chance right here in this moment: Revoke the Advanced Clean Car regulations and amend or repeal the GWSA. This action would protect Vermonters and our local businesses from this economic tyranny that fuels wealth transfers via small business closures that cannot afford these penalties.
New diesel trucks use 60% less diesel than trucks made in 2004. The truck dealers providing testimony emphasized the need to encourage and incentivize these new efficient diesel trucks versus businesses holding onto old and higher polluting trucks because of these advanced clean car regulations. Vehicle dealers are also mandated to install changing infrastructure which can cost on average $150,000 for one 3-phase power charging station required for certain trucks. With Vermont’s severe lack of charging infrastructure and the need for electric grid upgrades, this advanced clean car program is destined to fail and will bring down our small businesses and local economy with it.
As Representative Ken Wells (R- Orleans) perfectly summed up after hearing this shocking testimony in Committee, “Let’s say we get past the fact that they (electric trucks) cost three times as much as a diesel, let’s say we get past the fact they can only go a third of the mileage of a diesel. Let’s get past the fact that you cannot charge them anywhere and you have to charge them for a day and a half. Do they have the same performance, can they handle your workload?”
In response to his questions, it was acknowledged that at this time, there are several limited roles for electric buses and trucks in contained spaces such as community and city transit or yard trucks. However, it also surfaced that the weight of these trucks due to the batteries is 5000-7000 pounds more than clean diesel trucks which massively cuts into transport capacity.
Also, the mined minerals required for these batteries involves major ecological devastation and human rights abuses, including slave labor and child labor especially in the Global South, including indigenous lands.
As reported by the Guardian, Tesla, Google, Microsoft and Apple have been sued for the deaths of children mining minerals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This issue was repeatedly and adamantly raised by House Transportation Committee member Representative Jim Casey (R-Addison-Rutland), during the Agency of Natural Resources Presentation on the Advanced Clean Car rules on February 12. This testimony was devoid of any legitimate benefit/risk analysis. Comparatively, the recent testimony in House Transportation provided the real world impacts that your committees should become deeply acquainted with and soon.
You have it in your power to literally eliminate these imminent threats and help Vermont save money, support our local economy, buffer small businesses from monopoly control and continue to work on steps in the right direction without this expensive, extreme, punish and attack approach. Please take action and move these bills, please understand the urgency of the matter. With all due respect, it is absolute negligence otherwise.
The author is a Danville resident.