(Host) The Vermont House on Thursday afternoon voted to repeal the state’s mandate for the sale of zero emission vehicles by the year 2004. Vermont is one of four states in the country that requires the national car companies to make a non-polluting vehicle available for sale in the state or face financial penalties.
By a vote of 93 to 48, House members gave their approval to a plan to repeal this mandate. Colchester Representative Henry Schaefer urged his colleagues to eliminate the zero emission requirement:
(Schaefer) “This does not ban electric cars or hybrid cars or anything like that. All it does is that it says a dealer does not have to stock them and sell them if he can.”
(Host) But Burlington Representative John Tracy said it was a mistake to repeal this mandate:
(Tracy) “Automobiles are the largest polluter of certain toxins in the state of Vermont. What we are doing here is doing away with those standards that we as consumers and people who want to live in a healthy environmental have benefited from.”
(Host) The measure is expected to come up for final approval in the House on Friday.