Advocacy Groups to EPA: Approve Clean Fleets for California
June 17, 2024
The Honorable Michael S. Regan
Administrator
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, DC 20460
RE: California State Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Standard; Advanced Clean Fleets; Requests for Waiver of Preemption
On behalf of the undersigned environmental, transportation, health, faith, business and non-profit groups and the concerned residents across the country that we represent, we urge the EPA to approve California’s Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) waiver request in full and without delay, securing California's and other states' ability to implement more stringent heavy-duty vehicle standards that will protect public health, and help alleviate local air pollution in the most impacted and highly polluted communities.
Currently, 39% of people in America are experiencing unhealthy levels of air pollution, and the transportation sector is largely to blame. Under the Clean Air Act, California holds a unique authority to establish more protective clean vehicle standards than the federal government and allows other states to opt-in to California’s more stringent standards. Among other things, California’s ACF rule allows states to require truck fleets to transition over time to zero emission trucks and requires manufacturers to sell 100% zero emission trucks by 2036. Granting the ACF waiver will ensure that states stay on the pathway to equitably transition from diesel fuels, protect public health, and mitigate the twin crises of air pollution and climate change.
The ACF regulation is crucial in the fight against toxic diesel pollution and the climate crisis. Diesel emissions from trucks stand as one of the country’s foremost contributors to unhealthy air pollution and climate change. While trucks make up only 5 percent of total on-road vehicles in the U.S., they are responsible for 30 percent of GHG emissions, 42 percent of NOx emissions, and 51 percent of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) emissions. Communities located near major roads, highways, railyards, and ports suffer disproportionate burdens from traffic and transportation pollution. Exhaust from diesel trucks is a leading source of harmful air pollution that sends countless Americans to the hospital every year. Diesel pollutants have devastating consequences on surrounding communities, and these collectively increase premature mortalities, cause cardiovascular and respiratory diseases,increase the risk of cancer, and threaten the stability of the climate.
Granting the ACF waiver will not only substantially reduce carbon and diesel emissions from the transportation sector, but also deliver important, life-saving reductions in local air pollutants linked to ozone and smog, especially in low-income communities and communities of color. The benefits of the ACF rule in California alone are enormous as it will deliver $57 billion in health savings by 2050 and is expected to save 5,000 Californian lives between 2024 and 2050. The community-driven ACF regulation ensures that efforts to enhance air quality prioritize the communities bearing the brunt of toxic air pollution, aligning closely with the Biden Administration’s Justice40 goals. California and states throughout the country will be able to protect their residents with this lifesaving regulation, but only if the EPA grants a waiver for the rule.
Many states have recognized the importance of moving faster than the federal medium- and heavy-duty (MHD) clean vehicle standards require. Seventeen states, the District of Columbia and Quebec have signed on to a memorandum of understanding committing to achieve 100 percent MHD ZEV sales no later than 2050 and subsequently released a Multi-State MHD ZEV Action Plan which highlights the adoption of California’s Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) and ACF rules as key actions to advance MHD vehicle electrification. Eleven states have already adopted the ACT regulation and several more are currently considering adopting the ACT regulation. The ACF regulation is the next key step for these states in accelerating the market for MHD ZEVs.
EPA must follow its decades-long precedent and fully approve the waiver request for the ACF rule to deliver public health and economic benefits. We urge you to grant California’s ACF waiver request as soon as possible.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Will Brieger Jan Dietrick Marc Carrel Kate Johnson John Shears Nina Idemudia Kimberly McCoy Dave Robba Margarita Parra Amy Goldsmith Janet Cox Don and Alona Steinke Dorothy BarnettExecutive Director Thomas Coleman and Pamela Tate Rev. Brian Sauder Jeanette Shaw Tracey E. McFadden Andrea Marpillero-Colomina Maurissa Brown Megan Kemp Shelley Mann-Lev Jeremy Abrams Rev. Susan Hendershot Drew Tompkins Guillermo Ortiz Tobias A. Fox Debra Coyle Rev. Clara Sims Kevin Garcia Anshul Gupta Ingrid Malmgren Sarahia Benn Sven Thesen | Ruben Aronin Levi Kamolnick Maya Golden-Krasner Marven Norman Leah Missik and Brett Morgan Bill Magavern Matthew Brandon Emily K. Green Michael Jensen Gail Parson Athena Motavvef Conor Bambrick Laura Deehan Doug O'Malley Bakari Height Jack Symington William Colon Matthew Davis Dave Shukla Monique Fitzgerald Kathleen Meil Transportation Team Linda Hutchins-Knowles Mark Rose Ona Porter, MA Joel Ervice Joyce Lane and Elaine Maltz Katherine Garcia Jack Eidt Trip Pollard Kim Gaddy Travis Madsen Renae Reynolds Michele Canales |