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Local, state officials uphold clean car rules
Various electric vehicles, including Public Service Company of New Mexico’s Ford F150 Lighting, left, the Tesla Cybertruck and a Rivian R1S, were on display at the Electrify New Mexico conference at the Sid Cutter Pilot's Pavilion at Balloon Fiesta Park on Thursday.
New Mexico’s clean vehicle rules will stay in effect, local and state officials ruled Friday morning.
The ruling denies a request from local dealerships to pause the new policies while an appeal is before the New Mexico Court of Appeals.
In November 2023, state officials approved new zero-emission vehicle rules, much to the dismay of car dealerships.
The policies will increase how many zero-emission vehicles are in New Mexico, requiring auto manufacturers to deliver 43% zero-emission model 2027 vehicles and 82% zero-emission model 2032 vehicles.
In December 2023, New Mexico Automotive Dealers Association filed an appeal with the New Mexico Court of Appeals, and Automotive de Garcia, another local dealership, joined the effort to overturn the rules, too.
The court hasn’t come to a decision on the case, which can take years.
That’s why the dealerships asked the New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board and the Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Air Quality Control Board to pause the rules in the meantime.
It was a swift vote from both boards on Friday to deny the dealerships’ request for a stay. Both entities took less than an hour behind closed doors to discuss the case.
The rulings were a follow-up to a hearing that happened on the matter in March, which dragged on for nine hours.
Environmental Improvement Board Member Barry Bitzer was the only person among both boards to vote against denying the stay on Friday.
