Testimony: Jennifer Cantley, 2021, EPA Reconsideration of SAFE 1 Hearing

By: Jennifer Cantley, Nevada Field Organizer, Moms Clean Air Force

To: Environmental Protection Agency

Good morning from the West Coast. My name is Jennifer Cantley, and I am an organizer of Moms Clean Air Force from Carson City, Nevada, and I am a born and raised Nevadan and a mother of three beautiful boys, two of which have asthma. I once only had allergic asthma, but now have mild COPD due to COVID-19. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today.

In Nevada, we are seeing a double-edge sword, with one side we have had three of the fastest-warming cities in the United States, where it first started in Carson City in 2014, followed by Reno, then Las Vegas. We as Nevadans understand that these emissions come from cars and trucks, including heavy-duty vehicles, which degrades air quality and threatens our health, and it is the biggest polluter in Nevada, and we know the transportation sector is the largest source of carbon pollution in the US. Cleaning up vehicle pollution is one of the most important things we can do to fight climate change. We must allow states to protect their families from the climate crisis in our state, and it’s why we must convert to a new system to reduce our carbon footprint, but I cannot go without saying that we here in Nevada are seeing the other side of the sword as we are facing the solution, the solution being the lithium battery that will go in the future EV cars, charging stations, and storage facilities for solar, wind, and so on.

Lithium batteries will be needed across this country, but Nevadans are becoming well aware, especially in the rural counties, that lithium mining is not so clean and can harm our precious air and water. Because it will require sulfuric acid plants to produce this lithium. We are currently seeing 8,000 claims from lithium mining companies across Nevada. I have to speak up about the 160,000 tons of carbon pollution one mine will produce and how much it worries Nevadans. I live on Washoe ancestral land, and I am well aware that Nevada holds 25% of the world's lithium. This is a hard pill to swallow, especially when these mining claims are encroaching on Indigenous lands, in rural communities, in which I grew up in and have witnessed how little these communities have already. Now I'm watching the Fort McDermitt Paiute Shoshone Tribal community, who was hit hardest in Nevada per capita, during the coronavirus pandemic, being told their air and water will be threatened and their ancestral lands may be disturbed for mining.

Now I do support this administration’s proposal to reinstate state authority to set stronger clean car standards and urge this administration to move forward on setting ambitious federal clean car standards as well. Seeing these standards have gone through a rigorous technical review process, which found that auto manufacturers have the technology to meet the standards, but it makes me think about how much review has gone into the side of producing the lithium and others to extractions needed from the earth. I would like to see the mining companies, foreign and domestic, are held to the highest standards, when it comes to the land, the air, and all earthlings, to ensure we are doing this right before we cause more damage. I urge you to keep these standards to ensure the greatest reductions in climate pollution as possible on behalf of future generations, and once again, I support the proposal to reinstate state authority to set strong standards. Thank you for the opportunity to testify.