Contact: Sasha Tenenbaum, [email protected], 917-887-0146
Washington, DC – Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a proposal to strengthen standards for harmful air pollution from heavy-duty vehicles. The proposal would reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) pollution from heavy-duty trucks, as well as reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution from buses and trucks. Alongside these standards, the Biden administration also announced billions in investments to help accelerate the transition to clean trucks and buses. In response, Moms Clean Air Force Public Health Policy Director Molly Rauch issued the following statement:
“Truck pollution harms people’s lungs, hearts, and brains. It also makes climate change more severe, and that is dangerous to our health. Today’s proposed pollution standards and investments in cleaning up heavy-duty vehicles show us that the Biden administration and EPA are prioritizing fixing this problem. Families need this. Truck pollution is an urgent public health and environmental justice issue.
“Nitrogen oxides are harmful to breathe. They make asthma and respiratory disease worse, triggering asthma attacks and sending people to the emergency room. People with asthma, children, and older adults are especially vulnerable to the health impacts of this kind of pollution. Nitrogen oxides also combine with other chemicals in the atmosphere to form soot and smog, harmful air pollutants that cut short thousands of lives each year. We urgently need cleaner heavy-duty vehicles on the road, especially in underserved communities that are overburdened with truck pollution due to their proximity to highways and high-traffic corridors.
“EPA’s proposal is a welcome step forward. But it doesn’t go far enough. The proposal must be strengthened, to better protect children, people with asthma, older adults, and other vulnerable groups from the health harms of air pollution. Moms and dads across the country want to see a rapid transition to zero-emitting trucks, and we need cleaner air for our children and our communities.
“People who live near highways, ports, warehouses, and freight yards know that air pollution from trucks and buses is unhealthy to breathe. More than 13 million people, including 3.5 million children, live near ports and rail yards. An additional 45 million live within 300 feet of a highway or distribution center. This pollution disproportionately burdens low-income communities of color.
“It is essential that EPA finalize standards that rapidly reduce the impacts of deadly truck pollution. These standards should also put us on a path toward 100% electrification of polluting big rigs, trucks, and buses. It’s critical that we make these vehicles as clean as possible. The decisions we make today about tailpipe pollution from trucks will affect the air our children and grandchildren breathe for decades.”