By: Vanessa Lynch, Pennsylvania Campaigns Coordinator
Date: July 29, 2026
About: Docket No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2026-0728-0114
To: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Thank you for the opportunity to testify. My name is Vanessa Lynch, and I am the Pennsylvania Campaigns Coordinator for Moms Clean Air Force. On behalf of our over 109,000 members in Pennsylvania, I am here to urge that you not weaken vital tailpipe pollution limits for new heavy-duty diesel vehicles. We need these safeguards to protect children’s health.
Moms Clean Air Force’s Pennsylvania chapter, along with partners at Generation 180 and the Alliance of Nurses for a Healthy Environment, recently published a report—Clearing the Air: Protecting Pennsylvania’s Children from Diesel Pollution. The study found 69,000 children across Pennsylvania attend school or a childcare center within 500 meters (0.3 miles) of at least one major roadway or trucking corridor. Research shows diesel pollution levels remain elevated throughout these high exposure zones.
In Pennsylvania, medium- and heavy-duty vehicles make up only 8% of vehicles on the road but produce 62% of the nitrogen oxide (NOx) and 52% of the particulate matter (PM) emitted by on-road vehicles. Diesel exhaust contains 40 hazardous air pollutants listed by the Environmental Protection Agency, 15 of which are listed by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as known, probable, or possible carcinogens.
Air pollution can contribute to numerous negative health impacts in children, including increased asthma rates and asthma attacks, exacerbations of existing respiratory diseases, reduced lung function, pre-term birth, low birth weight in babies, neurodevelopmental disorders, cancers, and higher risks for chronic diseases in adulthood. Undermining the current standards for new heavy-duty diesel vehicles will only serve to exacerbate these difficulties.
Pennsylvania is seventh in the nation for elevated lifetime risk for cancer from diesel combustion-related particulate pollution. Pennsylvania is also home to three of our nation’s “asthma capitals”—Allentown, Philadelphia, and Harrisburg rank at numbers 3, 4, and 15, respectively.
Diesel pollution has a serious financial and health toll on Pennsylvania’s families, causing hundreds of premature deaths, tens of thousands of missed work days, and billions in monetized health damages across the state every single year. Children are especially vulnerable to the health-harming effects of air pollution, and not just because their bodies are still developing. Our analysis shows many of the places children live, learn, and play are located within 500 meters (0.3 miles) of major roadways and trucking corridors, where they face both the short- and long-term effects of diesel pollution.
EPA must maintain the 2022 tailpipe standards for new heavy-duty diesel vehicles. These standards are meant to protect Pennsylvania’s children, and as our report shows, our children are depending on us. Thank you for your time.