By: Columba Sainz, Arizona field coordinator, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: April 13, 2022
About: Control of Air Pollution from New Motor Vehicles: Heavy-Duty Engine and Vehicle Standards Proposed Rule, Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2019-0055
To: Environmental Protection Agency
Thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Columba Sainz, and I am the Arizona state organizer for Moms Clean Air Force and EcoMadres.
EcoMadres is a program that gives Latina mothers like me the opportunity to take action—for safer, cleaner communities and environmental justice.
Here in Arizona, we have more than 21,000 members speaking up for our right to have clean air and a healthy climate. We are educating ourselves about how air quality impacts the health of our families, and we are fighting pollution and air quality together.
I have three children, ages two, five, and seven. I am also a new aunt of a one-year-old. I am a faith teacher to young children and a wife. As a kid, I spent all of my childhood outdoors, and it has been challenging to raise my kids indoors due to poor air quality.
My family and I have experienced the impacts of climate change in our community, from wheezing episodes to bad allergies.
I live in one of the most polluted cities, according to American Lung Association. I do not know the health consequences for my children, which worries me a lot. We need to listen to science and prioritize our planet's well-being and the health of our children and the elderly. Heavy-duty vehicles are a significant contributor to the carbon pollution causing climate change. Summer is just around the corner, and I cannot stop thinking about wildfires, flooding, extreme heat days and heatwaves, superstorms, and other extreme weather events.
This is one of the reasons I am here today, and urge you to finalize this proposal and make the necessary adjustments to strengthen the pollution standards for trucks. This will help protect families from pollution, and we already know that this harmful pollution can cause cancer, lung disease, brain damage in children, and other serious health harms.
We need to do all that is necessary to protect our earth and our children and future generations to come.