AUGUSTA (AP) – State environmental regulators approved new rules Thursday aimed at cleaning up the air by making more gas-electric, or hybrid, cars available in Maine.

The Board of Environmental Protection voted after automobile manufacturers asked for more time to review changes to the proposed regulations, which could require car and light-truck makers make zero-emission vehicles available in Maine.

The rules seek to reinstate, in a more flexible form, a zero-emission vehicle program that the BEP repealed in 2000. The program includes incentives to manufacturers through a system of credits.

But a DaimlerChrysler official told the board before its vote that car makers have not been involved in the drafting of the complex regulations, which he said have “significant technical issues” and are “not feasible.”

“The program if adopted today would not be successful,” said David Dillon, a senior planning specialist for DaimlerChrysler. “We could not comply.”

Jim Mitchell, representing General Motors Corp., said industry representatives in states where similar rules have been adopted were involved in their drafting.

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers’ Jim Kiley also asked the BEP for additional time to study a series of changes in the proposed regulations.

Even if the rules are approved by the BEP, they would face further review by the Legislature in the months ahead before taking effect. Gov. John Baldacci supports them, as do environmental groups.

The Conservation Law Foundation says the car industry’s had enough time to familiarize itself with the rules, and the Natural Resources Council of Maine said they address twin problems of air pollution and global warming.

The regulations will enable Maine to catch up with several other states – including six in the Northeast – that have already taken similar steps, said Matthew Davis of the group Environment Maine.

The new regulations, drafted by the Department of Environmental Protection, would require 10 percent of the new vehicles manufacturers send to Maine to meet tougher emission standards than California’s strict requirements by the 2009 model year. Those vehicles would include more hybrids.

AP-ES-12-02-04 1915EST