By: Elizabeth Bechard, Senior Policy Analyst, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: January 10, 2024
About: Advanced Clean Cars II Program
To: Environmental Protection Agency Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2023-0292
Hello. My name is Elizabeth Bechard, and I am the Senior Policy Analyst for Moms Clean Air Force, which is an organization of over 1.5 million parents and caregivers united to fight against air pollution and climate change. Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
I’m here today in strong support of the Advanced Clean Cars II program, and ask that the waiver be granted without delay. I live with my family in Vermont, which is one of the 13 states that has adopted ACCII, and I’m proud to live in a state that is actively working towards a zero-emissions future.
Tailpipe emissions from the transportation sector have a profound impact on public health: they account for nearly a third of all climate-heating greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. This past year, the enormous health threat of climate change came home in a new way for many of us, including Vermonters. Over the summer, like much of the northeast, our state experienced several frightening episodes of poor air quality due to smoke from raging Canadian wildfires. There were multiple days when I had to keep my 7-year-old twins inside because the outside air was unsafe to breathe. My husband contracted two serious tick-borne illnesses over the summer, which resulted in unexpected medical bills for our family. In July, Vermont was battered by devastating flooding, which damaged homes, government buildings, and businesses, including many of the local farms that provide food for our region. And just last month, unseasonably warm temperatures and heavy December rains melted what little snow was on the ground, resulting in another round of flooding just a week before Christmas. In Vermont, as everywhere, the people hit hardest by this past year’s climate impacts were the people already struggling to get by. Climate disruption exacerbates existing inequities of every kind.
Nearly every day, I hear people express grief about the weather: every time it rains in the winter, there is grief about the missing snow. And although summer is months away, many parents--myself included--are already anxious about the possibility of another summer filled with smoke, storms, too many ticks, and dangerous heat.
Put simply, the urgency of reducing our climate pollution could not be clearer. Everything we do now to mitigate climate change will mean a safer future for our children, grandchildren, and future generations. The Advanced Clean Cars II regulations will help ensure that California and other states wishing to follow its lead, like my own state of Vermont, can take bolder steps to reduce climate pollution from the transportation sector. I strongly support the ACCII program and urge this administration to approve the waiver without delay. There is no time to waste.
Thank you again for the opportunity to testify.