Cleaner Cars, Greener Cars

OK, by now you’ve probably heard our messages: cars make a lot of air pollution. They’re the biggest source of air pollution in Maine. And although we like to think of Maine’s environment as pristine, each summer brings some unhealthy air quality to our state. Unhealthy enough to send thousands of people to the hospital.

And you’ve also heard us say that not all of it blows in "from away" - we generate a pretty big glob of it right here in Maine. And that glob could grow as our communities sprawl out and we drive more each year.

Well, we at the DEP are not all gloom and doom when it comes to air pollution.

Car manufacturers have made significant progress in making some cars that pollute less by burning more cleanly and getting better gas mileage. But unfortunately, it hasn’t been easy for car-buyers to decipher all that technical gobbledygook to figure out which cars are the cleanest.

So, Maine has just kicked off a first-in-the-nation program to help car-buyers identify these cleaner, greener cars. At a festive event at the Blaine House in Augusta, Governor King recently slapped the first "Cleaner Car" sticker on a new car that meets the environmental criteria under the state’s new "Cleaner Cars for Maine" program.

The DEP and the Natural Resources Council of Maine, who teamed up with the Maine Automobile Dealers Association to develop the project, don’t think that every Mainer is going to buy one of these "cleaner cars" just because it pollutes less. But we hope that the cost savings, together with the warm feeling of helping to reduce smog, acid rain, and global warming, will tip the scales for some car-shoppers.

Any 2000 or later model-year car sporting one of our colorful "Cleaner Cars for Maine" window stickers must not only qualify as a "low emission vehicle," it will have to get at least 30 miles to the gallon. And at current fuel costs, the owner of a vehicle getting 30 miles per gallon spends about $325 less each year on gasoline than the owner of a car getting 20 miles per gallon.

And driving a "Cleaner Car" doesn’t have to mean giving up selection or comfort. While no pickup trucks (except the electric Ford Ranger) or sport utility vehicles currently qualify under the program, there are 23 car manufacturers with 64 different models that qualify, including some larger cars like the Buick Lasabre, Chevrolet Impala, and Pontiac Bonneville.

Other examples of qualifying cars are Toyota Camry and Solara, Honda Accord and Civic, Saturn SC and SW, Chevrolet Cavalier, Metro, Camaro, Lumina, and Malabu, Ford Escort, Pontiac Firebird and Sunfire, and Volkswagon Beetle.

To augment this educational sticker program, Governor King announced at the Cleaner Car kickoff event that he is directing the Maine Department of Finance and Administration to develop a new policy that will promote the purchasing of the least-polluting cars for state agency vehicle fleets.

So, next time you’re shopping for a new car, why not take our "Cleaner Cars for Maine" program out for a test drive? Your lungs and your wallet will be glad you did!

Judy Landers

Maine DEP