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According to the Arizona Daily Star "Environmentalists argued that the repeal will discourage zero-emission-vehicle development and harm the state's air quality, but supporters of the change said it will have negligible environmental impact and no economic impact.
"We believe this was the best course of action," said Henry Darwin, director of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, which called for the change. "We thought we had a very clear message from the Legislature to not adopt standards more stringent than the federal standard."
Clean Cars went into effect in January 2011 and applies to vehicles sold in Arizona. Mirroring standards in California, the program requires car companies to lower emissions that harm air quality, reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, and sell and develop infrastructure for zero-emissions vehicles.
In 2008, the federal Clean Air Act forced the state to either adopt tailpipe-emissions regulations from the federal government or from California. At the time, according to an ADEQ memo to the council, a strong national program on tailpipe emissions didn't exist.
But in May 2010, the federal Environmental Protection Agency revised its fuel-efficiency and greenhouse-gas standards, prompting the ADEQ's determination that repealing the Clean Car rules in favor of the federal standards would be more beneficial to the state.
With the repeal, the state is dropping its requirement on zero-emissions vehicles. But Arizona didn't have the infrastructure to support zero-emissions vehicles in the first place, the ADEQ argued. "
Source: http://azstarnet.com/business/local/az-repeals-emission-rules-mirroring-calif-standards/article_4c8d395e-4d48-5b49-adc2-14dc6d77bb95.html
Along with the repeal of more stringent emission laws, Arizona is also considering a tax for electric cars. Green Car Reports says "less than a month after the Arizona Governor’s Regulatory Review Council voted to repeal the state’s Clean Cars law and adopt the less-stringent emissions standards set out in Federal law, the state is now considering charging a pay-per-mile tax on electric car use.
Arizona House Bill 2257 -- introduced by Rep. Steve Farley (D-AZ) -- is modeled on proposed Oregonian legislation and would charge electric car owners up to 1.43 cents per mile travelled.
Like the $100 per year tax being proposed in Washington state and the electric car electricity tax being discussed in Kansas, the proposed Arizona tax would be the electric car equivalent of the tax currently levied on gasoline purchases statewide.
Like the gasoline tax, any funds from the pay-per-mile tax would be spent on maintaining the state’s road network.
“One of the only ways we pay for our roadways is through gas tax, so if they’re not paying into the gas tax system we need to find a way of closing that loophole, and getting them to pay for the roads they use,” Rep. Farley told the Cronkite News. “It’s only fair that we pay for the things we use.”
The majority of electric car owners in Arizona agree, according to Jim Stack, president of the Phoenix chapter of the Electric Auto Association.
“Someday it’s all going to be hybrids and electric vehicles,” he said. “it wouldn’t do us any good if we didn’t have any roads.”
But some consumer groups, whilst acknowledging the need to devise a tax system that ensures electric car owners also pay towards road upkeep, have pointed out that the tax could be too much, too soon.
Given the relatively high sticker price of most electric cars on the market today, they argue, an additional taxation system may put off prospective buyers from making the switch."
Source: http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1072614_arizona-considers-charging-electric-cars-tax-at-1-43-per-mile
Arizona House Bill 2257 -- introduced by Rep. Steve Farley (D-AZ) -- is modeled on proposed Oregonian legislation and would charge electric car owners up to 1.43 cents per mile travelled.
Like the $100 per year tax being proposed in Washington state and the electric car electricity tax being discussed in Kansas, the proposed Arizona tax would be the electric car equivalent of the tax currently levied on gasoline purchases statewide.
Like the gasoline tax, any funds from the pay-per-mile tax would be spent on maintaining the state’s road network.
“One of the only ways we pay for our roadways is through gas tax, so if they’re not paying into the gas tax system we need to find a way of closing that loophole, and getting them to pay for the roads they use,” Rep. Farley told the Cronkite News. “It’s only fair that we pay for the things we use.”
The majority of electric car owners in Arizona agree, according to Jim Stack, president of the Phoenix chapter of the Electric Auto Association.
“Someday it’s all going to be hybrids and electric vehicles,” he said. “it wouldn’t do us any good if we didn’t have any roads.”
But some consumer groups, whilst acknowledging the need to devise a tax system that ensures electric car owners also pay towards road upkeep, have pointed out that the tax could be too much, too soon.
Given the relatively high sticker price of most electric cars on the market today, they argue, an additional taxation system may put off prospective buyers from making the switch."
Source: http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1072614_arizona-considers-charging-electric-cars-tax-at-1-43-per-mile
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