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Ross Hollander has many trucks. He owns 60 trailers and leases the tractor to pull them. He also owns 20 vans. They deliver beer in six of Connecticut’s eight counties, a job his family has been doing since 1962 as Hartford Distributors.
They drive a lot, and they use a lot more fuel, mostly diesel. Climate change, according to the Latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is even worse than had been thought, Hollander doesn’t want to be using fossil fuel any more.
“Early on, I felt as though it was important for companies like ours to invest in changing our carbon footprint,” he said. He installed enough solar panels on the roof to power 80% his 100,000 square feet refrigerated space. But he said: “We want to go a step further.”
He wants to convert all of his vehicles to electric. First, he will need a charging infrastructure capable of charging each vehicle overnight.
“We want to be a beacon,” he said, but he could use a little help. “We believe that there should be some grant money for us to be able to go with it.”
It’s the kind of initiative and funding that could have been provided through The Transportation and Climate Initiative, which failed in last year’s legislative session after Republicans inaccurately branded its funding source from an increase in gasoline prices as a tax, and the label stuck.
TCI is not present at this session, but there is an alternative. comprehensive climate and transportation bill — SB4 — that would start several large clean transportation programs, including some that would help Hollander. It also establishes funding mechanisms that would piggyback the nearly $5.4 Billion in federal funding that Connecticut is receiving from the infrastructure legislation.
It’s getting an all-hands-on-deck effort with nearly four dozen co-sponsors including the Democratic leadership that was barely lukewarm on TCI. Republicans? But not yet.
“The whole concept of electric vehicles and lower emissions is something that crosses party lines and people generally support,” said House Minority Leader Vincent J. Candelora, R-North Branford. “Funding sources always become the bone of contention, and obviously, in the wake of what we’re seeing with gas prices, that just spurs that debate all over again.”
Democrats from the transportation and environment committees are working on the bill together and holding a hearing. The bill is called An Act Concerning Connecticut Clean Air Act.
“Yeah, well, you have to wonder who’s going to oppose clean air in Connecticut, right?” said Sen. Will Haskell, D-Westport, who co-chairs transportation and serves on the environment as well as energy and technology committees. “I’ve been thinking of it as kind of kumbaya legislation, because it actually brings together a lot of groups that normally come to my office to complain about the other.”
This bill is different from TCI, which authorized legislation to develop clean transport initiatives but did not have a dedicated funding source. Instead, it has very specific programs with funding plans. Some of these programs call for bonding to match federal funds.
And this bill has a distinct focus on the needs of environmental justice communities, something opponents often claimed TCI wouldn’t have.
“I remember from the TCI debate, so many of my colleagues said, ‘We support these investments, we just don’t support the revenue source.’ So we’re taking them up on it,” Haskell said. “We’re finding new ways to fund similar investments, and we’re doing so in a way that makes sure no family, no community, gets left behind in this transition to a greener, cleaner transportation network.”
Among the bill’s provisions:
- Expansion of rebates on electric vehicle purchases through CHEAPR. This program is already in place and offers larger rebates and prequalification for those who reside in environmental justice communities.
- A 2030 deadline for 100% electric school buses in the environmental justice communities, and a 2035 deadline to the rest of the state. Establishes a matching grants fund for schools.
- All state-owned light vehicles must become electric by 2030.
- By 2024, the state will stop leasing or buying diesel buses.
- Requires level 2 electric vehicle charging in schools, rental properties, and state buildings.
- Rural areas will have EV charging infrastructure
- Requirements for entities using state funds to fund infrastructure projects that increase carbon emissions to also do carbon mitigation projects.
- The project assists towns to upgrade traffic signals to improve flow and reduce emissions.
“One of my concerns overall with the electric vehicles is infrastructure,” Candelora said. “Do we have enough charging stations? That’s what the federal money is trying to address. And I think that’s something that Connecticut needs to get in front of, before we start incentivizing the purchase of these vehicles.”
He also agreed with the importance of making them more affordable for those with lower incomes. Many view electric bikes, or Ebikes, as a useful tool for doing this, especially in urban areas.
Thomas Lefebvre is the coordinator for Transport Hartford, a program run by the Center for Latino Progress. He said that while E-bike inclusion is important, the main goal should be to reduce driving. This means investing heavily in mass transit.
“Mostly we want that EJ communities are part of the process,” he said.
The legislation’s push to include E-bikes is far more basic than programs in Massachusetts. This week, The state announced $5 millionIn grants from the state for 10 innovative clean transportation projects throughout the state. The majority of these E-bike initiatives include bike sharing, specifically for areas of environmental justice, and an E–cargo delivery pilot program, as well as a taxi electrification programme.
The electrification school bus fleets could be a contentious component of the Connecticut bill.
“This is one of the items we’re most excited about — that you have a clear timeline to retire these old school buses,” Lefebvre said.
Candelora is concerned that the bus technology isn’t yet good enough, at least for the few electric transit buses currently in the state.
“I think everybody would agree that diesel emissions, people aren’t going to want to breathe that in,” he said. “What I’m seeing right now is we can’t get the buses online for the state of Connecticut. So even if the money is there, I’m reluctant to jump in on school buses.”
Connecticut may soon get a few electric school busses Previous rounds of federal dollars.The $7 million tranche of the American Rescue plan did not provide any funding for the state. But it is receiving about $165,000 for eight buses in four different locations, though it’s a program that allows for the replacement of old diesel school buses with ones that can include diesel, gasoline and propane as well as electric. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the new funding for infrastructure law is $5Billion nationally over five-years and may prioritize environmental justice.
“I think you see in this bill a lot of partnership — with local business owners in exempting charging infrastructure from property taxes, with local school districts and helping them to afford electric buses, and frankly, with local governments and helping them to afford to modernize traffic signals as something they can’t really afford to deal with without some state assistance,” Haskell said.
However, the bill is quite long, which could be a problem in this short legislative session.
“I’m really hopeful that we can get this done,” said Sen Christine Cohen, D-Guilford, co-chair of the Environment Committee. “We need to be taking meaningful steps. Climate action should have been taken yesterday, but we’re doing all these onesie-twosie things, which I think are very important and all add up, but this will have real meaningful impact.”
In addition to the IPCC report’s dire findings, another The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has released an air reportThis shows that the state continues its violations of the more stringent air quality standards set in place from 2008 and 2015. The transportation sector continues to be the single largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. However, the state is not on track in meeting its 2030-2050 emissions targets.
The measures in SB 4 are intended to improve that trajectory and mitigate climate change. Another bill is also included in the mix. It would require the state to adopt the stricter California standards for medium-duty and heavy-duty trucksAs it does for cars, and other light vehicles. Last year, a similar measure was unsuccessful.
Using the California standard became more serviceable this week when the EPA restored that state’s ability to set its own emissions standards, as has been allowed since the 1970s under the federal Clean Air Act. Even though this was legally questionable, Trump had stripped it.
Candelora said he’s not sure yet about supporting that.
“My global concern right now with the trucking industry is the cost of goods and services, getting the products into Connecticut,” he said. “And with the truck tax being implemented next year — how do the standards play with that?”
But, for Cohen and Haskell, climate change mitigation remains a concern.
“We’re providing all these dollars for new businesses to come into the state,” Cohen said. “The businesses that are here and existing, how can we reward green economy decisions, right? And so I think that’s going to be more and more important.”
And Haskell said: “We have an opportunity to make sure that, in this historic moment where Connecticut is slated to receive $5.4 billion in infrastructure investments, that those investments don’t worsen our climate crisis.”
