By: Melody Reis, Senior Legislative and Regulatory Policy Manager, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: May 2, 2023
About: Environmental Protection Agency Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2022-0985
To: Environmental Protection Agency
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. My name is Melody Reis, and I am the Senior Legislative and Regulatory Policy Manager for Moms Clean Air Force. I am here to testify in support of the proposed clean trucks standards and to call on EPA to finalize strong standards this year. Strong safeguards are crucial in protecting the health of our children and communities, and we must act urgently.
As I’m sure you’re aware, the transportation sector is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the US, responsible for nearly 1/3 of all emissions. And despite making up less than ten percent of the vehicles on the road, heavy-duty vehicles are responsible for an outsized share of this climate pollution. Cleaner trucks cannot come soon enough.
I live in the DC Metro area, and there’s no question that climate change is here. We have regional weather data going back 150 years, and four of the five hottest years on record have been in the last 11 years. And 2023 is on track to top them all, with 77 percent of days warmer than average so far, often by 5 to 6 degrees.
Increased temperatures can lead to dangerous levels of ozone pollution (or smog), so it’s unsurprising that in the American Lung Association’s 2023 State of the Air Report, released last month, the DC Metro region received a failing grade—an ‘F’—based on the number of high ozone days in recent years.
Ozone is a dangerous pollutant linked to lung damage and respiratory problems, and children, whose little lungs are still growing, are among the populations most vulnerable to its harms. When parents, teachers, and other caregivers look at the forecast in the morning and see an air quality alert—and we just had one recently—or smell smoke from wildfires, which are often made worse by climate change, it’s hard not to feel anxiety about sending kids out to play in polluted air. Or anxiety about having to keep them indoors, which has its own health drawbacks.
The good news is that the technology for zero-emission vehicles exists. Zero-emissions means zero greenhouse gases and zero air pollutants coming out of tailpipes. That’s good for our climate and for our lungs. And it’s especially good for those who live near highways and truck routes, often communities of color and low-income communities, who have been burdened for far too long with unhealthy air.
Heavy-duty trucks are driving climate change, but it doesn’t have to be this way. I urge you to finalize strong standards—consistent with the Advanced Clean Trucks rule—this year, and help put us on a path to a cleaner future.