By: Kiya Stanford, Georgia Field Organizer
Date: July 29, 2026
About: Docket No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2026-0728-0114
To: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
My name is Kiya Stanford, and I am the Georgia State Organizer at Moms Clean Air Force. I am from Atlanta, Georgia, and on behalf of our nearly 35,000 members in my state, I urge you to protect tailpipe pollution standards for heavy-duty vehicles. Strong transportation standards are crucial in protecting the health of our children and communities, and it is critical that we do not roll back these important safeguards.
As someone who has lived in one of the nation's most bustling urban and suburban areas, exposure to high levels of tailpipe emissions is no new thing. Tailpipe exhaust from heavy-duty vehicles is a significant source of nitrogen oxides (NOx), which react in the atmosphere to form ground-level ozone, or smog. Ground-level ozone is harmful to breathe! According to the American Lung Association’s 2026 State of the Air Report, metro Atlanta has an average of 6.2 unhealthy days of ground-level ozone pollution per year, a number that is steadily increasing after decades of progress. There is an obvious problem here that poses risks to human health and especially that of the most vulnerable populations, including children and marginalized groups.
Health impacts from exposure to these pollutants can range from respiratory illness like asthma to cognitive problems and even premature death. This hits home for me because as someone who attended primary and middle school next to major highways, I know the community-level impacts of exposure to emissions from heavy-duty vehicles.
At just five years old, my little brother was nearly hospitalized and put on a nebulizer due to pneumonia after being seemingly healthy in the years prior. The only new factor was his environment: our elementary school located off I-285 and US 278 (Covington Highway). Asthma and other respiratory problems were something common among my peers during this time, and knowing what I know now, the commonality for all of us was our constant exposure to tailpipe pollutants each day when we went to school.
Research shows that people of color, like me, have higher exposure to toxic airborne soot. The unfortunate mix of the emissions from not only our diesel-burning school buses that idled each morning and afternoon, but the additional exposure from the highways, created constant exposure for children in my community. This is the case for many Title 1 Black and Brown students in urban and suburban neighborhoods nestled near major roadways, and we need to create every avenue possible to mitigate their exposure, so stories like my brother’s aren’t replicated.
Again, I strongly urge EPA to protect the Clean Trucks Rule for the health and well-being of all communities, but especially those who disproportionately are affected by the impacts of these policies. Thank you for your time and consideration.