By: Michelle Uberuaga, Montana State Coordinator, 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 so much for your time and attention today. I am grateful for your work. You have an incredibly important job and laudable mission: “to protect human health and the environment.”
My name is Michelle Uberuaga, I am a mother of three and a member of Moms Clean Air Force, I live on indigenous land in southwest Montana. I work full-time running a community-based conservation group here in Yellowstone’s northern gateway.
I am testifying today to encourage EPA to adopt the strongest possible rules for heavy-duty trucks consistent with the Advanced Clean Trucks rule.
We need to rapidly transition to zero-pollution vehicles. As many speakers have already stated, we are at a tipping point. Every decision you make to reduce pollution today, matters. I really want you to understand the urgency of this work to my family, and so many other Montana families. We have already experienced our first wildland fires in Montana. Our rivers are worryingly low. And we are gearing up for another hot and smokey summer. My kids are still pretty young, but they know that something is not right. Montana’s drought is killing farmers. Climate change is impacting every part of our lives—our economy and our way of life in Montana. Our kids are counting on you to take action to protect their future.
For these reasons, I urge the EPA to set the strongest possible federal truck standards.
I am also testifying because my family, like many Montana families, is impacted from air pollution from trucks. Strong standards would encourage a rapid transition to zero-emission vehicles, which would not only cut climate pollution, but reduce the toxic air pollution that comes from vehicle exhaust.
Livingston is a small town in a rural county on the northern edge of Yellowstone National Park. You might imagine that we have pretty good air quality, but like every other place, we experience local pollution from vehicles. It’s inescapable.
My son has three kids on his soccer team who have asthma. My husband is the coach and he has to make judgment calls about whether it’s safe to practice or play games. Parents should not be making these decisions. Thinking back on my childhood I can remember one time that a kid had an asthma attack at school. It was very scary. Now, as a parent, inhalers are a part of play dates, and the number of kids that i know that experience asthma is astonishing. And those numbers are much higher in historically marginalized communities in urban areas, and the data is clear, communities of color are among the hardest hit.
We need your help. Local families and communities can work together to protect themselves from dangerous pollution, but we shouldn’t have to, and many especially vulnerable communities just don’t have the resources or time. We need your leadership to protect vulnerable children across our country from air pollution and climate change.
Strengthening truck standards is a simple step, and I want my kids to know that we did everything we could to protect their future.
Moms Clean Air Force is calling on EPA to finalize the strongest possible clean trucks standards this year, consistent with the Advanced Clean Trucks rule.
Thank you again for your time and your consideration.