By: Brooke Petry, Pennsylvania State Coordinator, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: May 2, 2023
About: Environmental Protection Agency Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2022-0985
To: Environmental Protection Agency
Thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Brooke Petry, and I am a state coordinator for Moms Clean Air Force. I live in Pennsylvania with my family, and I am testifying today in support of the proposed standards. I join others from Moms Clean Air Force to call on EPA to finalize strong Clean Truck Standards this year. Stronger transportation standards are crucial in protecting the health of our children and communities, and it is urgent that we act now.
According to a recently released IPCC synthesis report, “limiting warming to 1.5 degree C and 2 degrees C involves rapid, deep, and in most cases, immediate greenhouse gas emission reduction.” Hoesung Lee, the Chair of the IPCC, said, “This synthesis report underscores the urgency of taking more ambitious action and shows that if we act now, we can still secure a livable sustainable future for all.”
Here in Philadelphia, where I live, the impacts of climate change have already arrived. In addition to ever strengthening storms, Philadelphia is plagued each summer by the urban heat island effect—especially in neighborhoods that have faced generational harms and disinvestment from racist policies, like redlining, and already endure disproportionate exposure to pollution. Setting the strongest possible pollution standards for trucks, and rapidly transitioning to zero-emissions trucks, is key for addressing climate justice.
Certain populations—including the very young, the pregnant, the elderly, the disabled, low-wealth people, and people of color—may be particularly vulnerable to health impacts and other harms associated with climate change. As a person with asthma, and as the parent of a child with asthma, my family experiences heightened impacts of climate change on a daily basis.
We know that reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector will help us address the crisis of climate change. In addition to important climate benefits, strong clean truck standards will help reduce other tailpipe pollution that harms our health, because they will help speed our transition to zero-emissions vehicles. My family does not own a car, and therefore, while we contribute less than most to climate-warming pollution, we are up close and personal with air pollution every day—particularly from the transportation sector, as we walk through our city going about our daily lives.
The vehicles covered by this rule will be on the road for decades to come. Families in Pennsylvania—those who own cars and those who travel by bike, by public transit, or on foot—want to see a rapid transition to zero-emissions vehicles, because it benefits ALL of us. Moms Clean Air Force is calling on EPA to finalize the strongest possible clean trucks standards, consistent with the Advanced Clean Trucks rule, this year.