New Regulations and New Money for EVs in the DMV
It’s been a good couple of months for electric vehicles in the D.C. area. Late last year, the District joined Virginia and Maryland in finalizing regulations that require all new cars registered in D.C. after 2035 to produce zero greenhouse gas emissions. The new rule won’t apply to used cars, so gas vehicles will still be on the road for a long time after it goes into effect, DCist’s Jacob Fenston reported last month. The requirements, which allow hybrid plug-in cars as well as fully electric battery-powered cars, will start kicking in with 2027 models.
Additionally, the DMV took home some hefty chunks of change from the federal government’s nationwide efforts to promote electric vehicle adoption. The Environmental Protection Agency announced early in January that Fairfax County and Montgomery County school districts would receive millions in grants to purchase electric school buses (both D.C. and Baltimore, along with 11 Virginia school districts, got funding from the same program in 2022).
Just a few days later, the Federal Highway Administration announced it would give the Maryland Clean Energy Center $15 million to build 58 electric vehicle charging stations in low- and moderate-income communities across the state.
Wind Power Company Pulls Out of Deal with Maryland
Citing “challenging market conditions,” offshore wind company Ørsted decided Jan. 25 to withdraw from an agreement to sell power to Maryland from a planned wind farm near Ocean City. The company still plans to build the wind farm in federal waters despite opting out of its deal with the Maryland Public Service Commission, Aman Azar reported for Inside Climate News.
The arrangement included a limit on how much Ørsted could charge for its power, and the company said that the price point—agreed upon in 2019—would no longer be enough to support the project’s development. The decision presents a major challenge for Maryland’s 2035 target for achieving 100% clean energy.
One other company, U.S. Wind, currently has a project in the works in Maryland, and it could potentially increase its generation to account for some of the difference, the Baltimore Sun’s Christine Condon reported.
Biden Administration Pauses Liquefied Natural Gas Exports
Climate and environmental justice advocates got a win last week as the Biden-Harris administration announced it would temporarily suspend approvals for new liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports. LNG is a fossil fuel made by fracking natural gas and then cooling it so it becomes liquid, making it possible to transport on roads, rails and ships.
The Department of Energy said it will use the time to update the economic and environmental analyses that determine whether an application gets authorized. A factsheet from the White House said that the current analyses are about five years old.
According to a celebratory press release from the Sierra Club, all the proposed and under construction gas export projects would have produced emissions equivalent to more than 550 new coal-fired power plants. Environmental justice advocates, particularly in frontline communities polluted by fossil fuel operations, have spent decades pushing for the U.S. to reduce new fracking projects built to sell LNG to other countries.