By Mary Welander
State Rep., D-114
Mary Welander
One of the challenges of this work is providing enough information to constituents about complicated policies and proposals that leads to greater understandings instead of distrust and dismissal.
I realized that I had not done enough during a recent coffee hour when the current debate on hybrid and electric vehicles came up. The resulting conversation allowed Sen. James Maroney and myself to share information that answered some questions for those able to attend. In hopes of clarifying parts of this complex subject for more constituents, here is some of the information we shared:
States have two options, either adopt the California standards or be under the federal Environmental Protection Agency standards. Connecticut has been working toward the California standards for almost 20 years. One goal of those standards is to hit a certain percentage of hybrid and electric vehicles sold by a set date, thereby reducing our air pollution levels and reliance on fossil fuels. Connecticut – and specifically New Haven County – has one of the highest rates of pollution levels and childhood asthma in the country. This is important for everyone.
Under the California plan, if the sales goals are not met then the car manufacturers will be fined. The manufacturers don’t want that, so they continue to work to make those vehicles more affordable to buyers.
If we leave the California plan and go under the EPA plan, then two things will happen. First, manufacturers will have no incentive to reduce costs. Second, the state of Connecticut will be fined because our air quality won’t meet federal standards. Under the California plan we get a “pass” right now because we are actively working toward a higher air quality goal. The most recent vote in the Regulation Review Committee was just to reaffirm the choice of the California plan.
A possible next step is to commit to the California standards for three years (avoiding fiscal penalties to the state) and create a bipartisan commission of auto experts, environmental experts and policymakers. The commission would, in part, look at the realistic cost of building out more charging stations and providing affordable in-home charging units, the potential fines that the state and taxpayers would have to cover under the EPA plan, as well as ensuring that our grid is able to support the increased use. At that point a new vote would be taken to either stay or leave the California standards based off the commission’s findings.
This was new information for most in attendance. From there we talked about potential reasons for setbacks or why it made sense that some industries (like trucking) were excluded.
My main point here is that a diverse group of people from all political leanings were able to sit down and talk about potentially controversial subjects with respect and curiosity for different opinions.
When we don’t talk about issues, we put ourselves further from solutions. To encourage more discussions, I will begin holding “office hours” in the evenings in hopes of being more accessible to constituents; you can also schedule time for a call or Zoom by emailing me at mary.welander@cga.ct.gov.