skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, July 17, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans plow ahead on cuts to PBS and foreign aid; LGBTQ advocates condemn FL Attorney General's focus on transgender athletes; Court allows NH TikTok lawsuit claiming deceptive practices to proceed; Funding fight in one Michigan city not stopping clean energy efforts.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Trump is pressed to name a special counsel for the Epstein case. Speaker Mike Johnson urges Senate not to change rescissions bill, and undocumented immigrants are no longer eligible for bond before deportation hearings.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Cuts in money for clean energy could hit rural mom-and-pop businesses hard, Alaska's effort to boost its power grid with wind and solar is threatened, and a small Kansas school district attracts new students with a focus on agriculture.

Electric Vehicle Fees Jump Under MT Measure

play audio
Play

Friday, May 7, 2021   

HELENA, Mont. -- Legislation in Montana that will create some of the highest registration fees for electric vehicles in the nation awaits Gov. Greg Gianforte's signature.

The measure will add $375 to the annual registration fee for electric SUVs and light trucks, making it the highest for these types of vehicles in the country. It would add $195 to standard electric cars, the nation's third-highest fee.

Conor Ploeger, clean energy program director for the Montana Environmental Information Center, said the increases run counter to the electric vehicle trend.

"If that's what customers want to purchase, then they shouldn't have to be punished in any way for wanting to choose that over a gas-powered vehicle," Ploeger argued. "Especially if that's where the market is heading, and that's what the more available option may be throughout this decade."

Car companies are making plans to increase their electric vehicle sales. General Motors has announced it plans to stop selling gas-powered cars by 2035.

Supporters of the Montana measure say it's a way to ensure that electric vehicle owners are paying their fair share of taxes to maintain roads, since they don't pay the taxes at gas pumps.

Ploeger agreed electric vehicle owners should contribute to highway revenue, but said the fees are too high. He thinks it should be a flat fee across vehicle types.

Michigan is the only other state that has different fees for SUVs and light trucks.

Ploeger noted Montana already lags behind neighboring states on adoption and wants the Legislature to send more encouraging messages to potential electric car owners.

"Montanans need to hear that the Legislature supports them purchasing an electric vehicle," Ploeger contended. "That the Legislature is going to look into other things, such as electric vehicle infrastructure, such as charging stations, things like that. So I think, in general, this is just a very bad first step."

Nearly a thousand Montanans own electric vehicles, according to a fiscal note attached to the bill. It estimates about 200 new electric vehicles will hit the state's roads each year, with the new fees adding nearly $330,000 to highway revenue in fiscal year 2025.


get more stories like this via email
more stories
Just 30% of U.S. solar and 57% of wind projects are expected to survive under the new GOP tax and spending law signed by President Donald Trump. (Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

More than $7 billion in Colorado's GDP and 9,600 jobs are projected to be lost under President Donald Trump's signature tax and spending bill which cu…


Environment

play sound

California receives high marks in a report on the fight against plastic pollution. This is Plastic-free July and the United States of Plastics report…

play sound

Environmental groups say Oregon's new groundwater law, meant to curb pollution, has been diluted to the point they can no longer support it. …


At least one in seven Nebraskans, or 287,240 people, are facing hunger, with one in five children considered food insecure. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Groups working to end hunger in Nebraska are reaching out to all parts of the state to train food insecure people to advocate for others facing simila…

Social Issues

play sound

New Mexico demonstrators will join nationwide protests today to oppose policies of the Trump administration. The "Good Trouble Lives On" nonviolent …

Refugee and Immigrant Connections Spokane will use its AARP Community Challenge funds to teach digital literacy skills to refugee seniors. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

More seniors in Washington state are facing financial strain or even losing their homes and seven local organizations will expand support for them wit…

Environment

play sound

An effort to restore Northern pike habitat in Green Bay is also benefiting other wildlife species and raising local awareness about the effects of cli…

Environment

play sound

Conservation groups, including the National Wildlife Federation and Oceana, are calling for a moratorium on deep-sea mining for minerals until more …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021