We all want to breathe clean air and protect our families from toxic pollution and unprecedented climate change impacts like the record extreme heat and hurricanes so many communities are experiencing this summer. In order to build a livable future, we must shift our transportation sector from being the largest climate polluting industry and massive source of cancer-causing air pollution to serving as a climate solution. Fortunately, that change is currently underway.
For nearly 50 years, states have had the explicit right granted under the Clean Air Act to protect their residents' health by choosing stronger than federal clean vehicle standards. The Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) state standard will improve the health and quality of life of low-income communities and communities of color, where families disproportionately suffer daily from the deadly diesel pollution that spews from nearby ports, rail yards, and warehouses.
States across the country will be considering adopting the standard to protect our future. However, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is facing opposition pressure to delay or deny authorization for the ACF waiver to implement these life-saving standards.
Any delay in approving the waiver could result in losing vital years of implementation time, weakening the benefits to public health, frontline communities, and our economy.
We must urge the EPA to pass this waiver without delay!
EPA’s swift approval of the ACF waiver is vital. Take action now to help accelerate the transition for more zero-emission trucks on our roads.
Do you have a personal experience about what a clean transportation future would mean to you? Please write a sentence or two personal comment to make your letter more powerful.
Read more from the Sierra magazine here.