By: Rachel Meyer, Ohio River Valley State Coordinator, Moms Clean Air Force
Date: May 3, 2023
About: Environmental Protection Agency Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2022-0985
To: Environmental Protection Agency
My name is Rachel Meyer, and I am the Ohio River Valley Field Coordinator for Moms Clean Air Force. I am from Independence Township, Beaver County, in western Pennsylvania. The proposed clean trucks standards are an important step forward to help reduce climate pollution. I urge you to finalize the strongest standards consistent with the Advanced Clean Trucks rules by the end of the year to protect the health of our children and the people in our communities.
Greenhouse gas emissions are driving climate change, and we need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles in order to have a stable climate and protect health. Climate change is one of the biggest concerns I have for my three-year-old daughter. I am faced with its reality every day. I see the petrochemical infrastructure including fracking operations and an ethane cracker plant near my family’s home and know this all contributes to a heavy load of climate warming pollution. Because of all this industrial activity, there is a large amount of truck traffic. The need to reduce greenhouse gas is apparent and using more zero-emission vehicles is a critical step.
I see consequences of climate change in the growing tick populations and the rise in pollen. As a child playing in western Pennsylvania’s woods, I never had to worry about ticks. My child does not enjoy that same freedom. We always have to check for ticks, and I’ve already had to remove a few from my daughter. In 2017, I contracted Lyme disease from a tick bite. I missed about two weeks of teaching in my second grade classroom and had ongoing symptoms for months. I was fortunate to fully recover unlike others who have damage to their joints, heart, and nervous system. Ticks are a harbinger of more diseases to come with continued climate change as areas previously too cold for disease vectors become able to support them.
As a person who suffers from asthma, I know that air quality is very important. As climate change worsens, pollen counts also rise. One of the triggers for my asthma is pollen. There are times when I have to stop my outdoor activity and remove myself from an area so that I do not suffer a full-blown asthma attack.
Increasing temperatures due to climate change lead to worse air quality by increasing the number of days with high concentrations of ozone. Tailpipe exhaust from heavy-duty vehicles used at industrial sites near me also directly contributes to the formation of smog. Smog is a dangerous trigger for asthma attacks. To compound the issue, the Shell petrochemical facility located near me has already exceeded its annual rolling pollution limits for VOCs and NOx. These pollutants combined with warming from climate change, create the perfect conditions for smog levels to rise. Moving to zero emission heavy-duty vehicles can improve conditions for approximately 16,000 people with asthma in Beaver County alone by both reducing the ingredients for smog and the temperatures that enable its formation.
The EPA’s proposed greenhouse gas regulations for heavy-duty vehicles are an important step forward in protecting our families from climate pollution. Climate change threatens our health in many ways, and, along with emissions from these vehicles, it is also contributing to the formation of more air pollution. Moving to zero emission heavy-duty vehicles will reduce climate warming gas and help to clean our air. It is so important to me and to parents all over the country that we have these regulations for our children’s health and 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 rules. Thank you.