Photo by iStock.com/Olga Kaya
This week, the EPA hosted a three-day public hearing on a proposed rule to strengthen regulations—for the first time in two decades—to clean up pollution from trucks and buses. After originally announcing a two-day hearing, so many people, including dozens of Sierra Club recruits of volunteers, staff, and members, signed up to make their voice heard that the EPA had to add a third day.
We're so grateful for all the people that have testified over the past three days for #CleanerTrucks, and for those still to come.
— Sierra Club Live (@SierraClubLive) April 14, 2022
Here's a reminder from former @EPA Director @margotoge about the importance of public input on environmental regulations. pic.twitter.com/mWcQ9Y4RN0
Public testimony from community members and activists is critical to ensuring that the Biden administration fulfills its promise to create a livable and just future that places our health and the health of our climate before corporate profits.
We followed along and live-tweeted throughout the EPA hearing; it was amazing - and equally devastating - to hear everyone's personal stories with transportation pollution and to witness so many people urging the agency to strengthen its proposal for the protection of our communities and planet.
You can scroll through the chorus of voices at the #CleanerTrucks hashtag.
Here is a sampling:
"I come from a family of truck drivers and folks who work in freight and I know they would have been grateful to drive cleaner vehicles and ultimately come home to communities not divided by highways." - @JustGelle @SierraClubDelta#CleanerTrucks
— Sierra Club Live (@SierraClubLive) April 14, 2022
#minidiva raised her voice @EPA @EPAair #CleanerTrucks hearing. "I am painfully aware of the #airquality concerns within the city I call home and that the color of my skin makes me and my peers more likely to suffer from health issues like asthma."
— Kelly Crawford (@ClimateKelly) April 14, 2022
@DCISchool pic.twitter.com/JYnofKP5Do
"Why should some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged members of our community suffer when the technology exists to clean up adverse impacts from Heavy Duty vehicle emissions?" - @EricWilladsen at the @EPA truck rule hearing #cleanertrucks #ClimateActionNow pic.twitter.com/Q0PWzezhd8
— Bekah (@BekahJaneW) April 13, 2022
Hay mucha contaminacion, les afecta su salad, y causa alergias y sangrados. Uno de mis nietos se le irrota los ojos. Es preocupante que nuestros representantes no pongan atencion a esto. - Maria Reyes Chispa NV Promotora
— Chispa LCV (@ChispaLcv) April 13, 2022
Oscar, an 11 year old from @CleanAirMoms_MI said at today’s @EPA hearing, “Lots of kids in Michigan have asthma like me… We have 7 counties with an F air quality grade according to the @LungAssociation. I’d be grounded if I got that many poor grades! #asthma #CleanAir #Trucks pic.twitter.com/oECXkRsSiq
— Michigan Moms (@CleanAirMoms_MI) April 12, 2022
"It is what is fair - equal clean air.
— Sierra Club Live (@SierraClubLive) April 12, 2022
Although NJ will benefit from [the state] clean truck rule recently adopted, federal action is absolutely necessary in order to move the manufacturers into a zero-emissions market" - @NJSierraClub Director Anjuli Ramos-Busot #CleanerTrucks
Themes in #CleanerTrucks comments:
— Jimmy O'Dea (@jimmyodea) April 12, 2022
"Doesn't go far enough"...
"impacted communities"...
"truck pollution"...
"asthma"...
"health"...
"zero-emission"...
"children"...
"highways"...
"schools"...
"elderly"...
"climate crisis"...
"My family lives next to a busy road in Chicago, but we are privileged enough not to live next to a highway. Regardless, I worry a great deal about pollution exposure for my family & the type of world my children will inherit." - Erica D., @SierraClub Organizer#CleanerTrucks
— Sierra Club Live (@SierraClubLive) April 13, 2022
Today I testified to @EPA, demanding that we tackle toxic diesel freight pollution with #CleanerTrucks standards. Toddlers, parents, truck and bus drivers & residents across the country all deserve to breathe clean air. We need all new trucks and buses to be zero emission by 2035 pic.twitter.com/jqaP9RGrKD
— Katherine GarcĂa (@katherinejulia) April 12, 2022
"We have a major port in San Diego, and it should surprise no one that this is where our most toxic air is concentrated...where communities face the worst effects of pollution largely from trucks serving the port." - @sierraclubsd Organizer Karl Aldinger #CleanerTrucks
— Sierra Club Live (@SierraClubLive) April 12, 2022
@ahndrayuhhh 4rm @PC4EJ @The_MFN urging and speaking on how @EPA must have stronger rules and tackle regulations on all levels of the “goods movement” including warehouse regulations! pic.twitter.com/8UI36J74W0
— ivette.t (@itMECHICA) April 12, 2022
Caia Farrell says that when air pollution is "it’s not safe for some of my friends to come out to the park or take a walk with me, b/c the bad air can trigger an asthma attack, which could lead to doctor or hospital visits, lots of medications, & missing school." #CleanerTrucks pic.twitter.com/ynMxkNtyKT
— Press at Moms Clean Air Force (@Moms_Press) April 14, 2022
"Having grown up in Atlanta, with its infamous traffic and resulting poor air quality, I know firsthand how we must shape helpful public policy rather than letting harmful public policies shape us"
— Sierra Club Live (@SierraClubLive) April 14, 2022
- Will Anderson, Sierra Club's Federal Policy team #CleanerTrucks
@darienldavis telling @EPA that we need strongest possible #CleanerTrucks standards to protect lungs and lives and prevent inequitable climate impacts, while @Yassi_lovely is poised to say's already late to protect EJ communities in freight-burdened #DieselDeathZones pic.twitter.com/wTnUUGmZdo
— Electric Trucks Now (@Electric_Trucks) April 14, 2022
"I live in a region [Riverside, California] where any big box realtor has a warehouse here. We’re used to seeing trucks travel near our schools on a 24 hour basis." - @Yassi_lovely, Senior Campaign Rep with @MyGenerationSC @SierraClub#CleanerTrucks
— Sierra Club Live (@SierraClubLive) April 14, 2022
"Children, as young as toddlers and as old as high schoolers, are riding in fossil fuel buses that emit toxins up to 10 times higher than they would have been exposed to riding in a normal car." - Carolina Chacon Coalition Manager @alliance4esb #CleanerTrucks #ElectricSchoolBuses
— Chispa LCV (@ChispaLcv) April 14, 2022