By: Joey Cantley, Kids Clean Air Force member, Nevada
Date: June 2, 2021
About: Environmental Protection Agency Reconsideration of SAFE 1 Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2021-0257
To: Environmental Protection Agency
Good morning. My name is Joey Cantley, and I live on Washoe land, and I am part of the Kids Clean Air Force, part of the Moms Clean Air Force from Carson City, Nevada, and I am a born and raised Nevadan and suffer with asthma, which has gotten worse due to having COVID-19. I want to thank you for the opportunity to testify today.
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 United States so cleaning up vehicle pollution is one of the most important things we can do to fight climate change.
I have been working with the kids in the Fort McDermitt Paiute Shoshone Tribal community, and it makes me sad to see what Nevada might have to go through to get EV cars, and how much pollution there is with mining. I hope the EPA can hold them accountable because the tribe already has dirty water, but knowing that lithium mining will cause 160,000 tons of carbon pollution with just one mine makes me think about what my state will look like when I am an adult.
The Kids Clean Air Force, along with Moms Clean Air Force, does 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, and I see you are going to hold auto dealers to high standards, and I hope you will hold lithium mining companies accountable too. We need to protect our land, 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.