{"id":1127922,"date":"2021-12-17T08:58:59","date_gmt":"2021-12-17T13:58:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1127922"},"modified":"2021-12-17T08:59:01","modified_gmt":"2021-12-17T13:59:01","slug":"report-maine-democrat-gov-janet-mills-administration-weighs-gas-tax-to-pay-for-pricey-clean-transportation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-maine-democrat-gov-janet-mills-administration-weighs-gas-tax-to-pay-for-pricey-clean-transportation\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: Maine Democrat Gov. Janet Mills\u2019 Administration Weighs Gas Tax to Pay for Pricey \u2018Clean Transportation\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Freport-maine-democrat-gov-janet-mills-administration-weighs-gas-tax-to-pay-for-pricey-clean-transportation%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1127922&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">Maine Gov. Janet Mills\u2019 (D) state budget does not have enough money to meet Mills\u2019 \u201cclean transportation\u201d goals and her administration is now floating ideas for new sources of funding, including a gas tax, according to a report the administration released this month.<\/p>\n<p>The Maine Clean Transportation Roadmap, dated December 2021,&nbsp;<a class=\"x5l\" title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/21155367-maine-clean-transportation-roadmap\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reveals<\/a>&nbsp;that the Mills administration will need to find the monetary means to stay on track to hit its decarbonization targets, which involve incentivizing Mainers to purchase electric vehicles, investing in vehicle charging infrastructure, reducing motor vehicle miles traveled, and more.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>One section of the report details that electric vehicle rebates and vehicle charging infrastructure, i.e., expanded access to charging stations, will cost the state tens of millions of dollars annually through 2025 and observes that \u201cclearly, existing funding sources are insufficient.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That section of the report notes that in addition to federal funding available through President Joe Biden\u2019s infrastructure bill \u2014 the $1.2 trillion legislation&nbsp;<a title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2021\/11\/15\/field-guide-infrastructure-leftist\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">packed<\/a>&nbsp;with leftist carveouts that the president signed last month \u2014 \u201cMaine could develop a new funding source, such as a clean fuel standard, road user charge [or VMT (vehicle miles traveled) tax], gas tax, carbon mechanism, and\/or vehicle feebate program\u201d to fill the financial gaps.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19167682\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" readability=\"37\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2021\/12\/AP21169612683049.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-19167682\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/AP21169612683049-1024x683-1.jpg\" alt=\"Gov. Janet Mills, left, is greeted by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, at a news conference at Acadia National Park, Friday, June 18, 2021, in Winter Harbor, Maine(AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)\" width=\"647\" height=\"431\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Janet Mills is greeted by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland at a news conference at Acadia National Park, June 18, 2021, in Winter Harbor, Maine. (AP Photo\/Robert F. Bukaty)<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>In another section, identifying goals for reducing miles traveled via motor vehicles, the report aims to deter drivers by financially burdening them, noting, \u201cThe&nbsp;assessment of fees can be an effective strategy to influence transportation system user behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It adds that \u201cthe most common pricing strategies are fuel taxes, tolls, and mileage-based fees. These fee schemes generate revenue for maintenance of the transportation system and aim to reduce VMT per person.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The report notes that Maine\u2019s gas tax of $0.30 per gallon has gone unchanged since 2013 and that the Maine Constitution limits fuel revenue to funding highways and bridges and traffic law enforcement.<\/p>\n<p>The gas tax proposals come as gas prices across the country have surged in recent months, straining average Americans\u2019 budgets as the cost of fuel heads toward breaking a ten-year percent increase record, per a&nbsp;<em>Wall Street Journal<\/em>&nbsp;<a class=\"x5l\" title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/gas-prices-pressure-drivers-finances-11638241233\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">report<\/a>. AAA on Thursday&nbsp;<a class=\"x5l\" title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/gasprices.aaa.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">showed<\/a>&nbsp;a national average fuel cost of $3.32 per gallon, down about ten cents from a month ago but up by more than a dollar over last year. Maine\u2019s average fuel cost is currently about ten cents higher than the national average, at $3.44 per gallon.<\/p>\n<p>The Maine Republican Party&nbsp;<a class=\"x5l\" title=\"This external link will open in a new window\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mainegop\/status\/1471562706293567489?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">raised<\/a>&nbsp;alarm bells over the green-energy roadmap, calling the gas tax idea \u201ctone-deaf\u201d amid soaring prices at the pump.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCalling for a new gas tax while Mainers face incredibly high gas prices is the most tone-deaf move by a Maine politician in a long time,\u201d Maine GOP Executive Jason Savage said in a statement Thursday. \u201cJanet Mills is deeply, deeply out of touch and her proposal to raise gas taxes should be rejected by anyone who cares about Mainers trying to get through this winter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Contributing to the roadmap report were consultants, an advisory group, and several members of the Mills administration. The report was released by the governor\u2019s Office of Energy and Office of Policy Innovation and the Future but caveated that the \u201canalysis and opinions are those of the authors and not of the State of Maine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Write to Ashley Oliver at <a href=\"mailto:aoliver@breitbart.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">aoliver@breitbart.com<\/a>. Follow her on Twitter at <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/asholiver\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">@asholiver<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maine Gov. Janet Mills\u2019 (D) state budget does not have enough money to meet Mills\u2019 \u201cclean transportation\u201d goals and her administration is now floating ideas for new sources of funding, &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1127922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1127922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1127922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1127922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1127922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1127922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1127922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}