Letter to Truck and Engine Manufacturer’s Association

Download the full letter here.

Date: August 8, 2022

To: The Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association Member Leadership

Subject: Updated – Stop Stalling Critical Clean, Zero-Emission Truck Standards

Thank you for your consideration of our previous letter addressed to members of the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association (EMA), regarding the lawsuit the EMA has filed against the California Air Resources Board (CARB) on California’s life-saving clean truck regulation, the Heavy-Duty Omnibus rule. We are now updating and expanding this letter to include stakeholders from across the country that have asked to be added as signatories due to the disappointing response sent by EMA President Jed Mendel on July 8, 2022. 

We cannot evade the stark reality that 137 million Americans live in counties with harmful levels of air pollution. The false luxury of leadtime has long been lost, with decades spent instead on a series of actions by EMA to vigorously oppose and delay critical regulations that will improve health and quality of life for millions of people. In four years, it’s estimated we will have lost over 400,000 lives, disproportionately made up of racially and ethnically diverse minorities, to the direct effects of air pollution. With lives at stake, we ask that you follow the actions of some of your fellow EMA members, Cummins, Ford, and GM, and publicly separate yourself from the EMA lawsuit against the California Air Resources Board (CARB), as well as the harmful EMA lobbying and disinformation campaigns designed to slow or stall the transition to cleaner trucks. Remaining silent is equivalent to endorsing EMA’s efforts to strike down critical regulations that will save lives in the most polluted communities. 

We are disturbed that EMA, in your name, is engaging in legal and political lobbying against rules that will save lives, prevent hospitalizations, and create billions of dollars in health benefits. The EMA’s lawsuit is a thinly-veiled delay tactic designed to slow the transition to cleaner trucks,  prioritizing convenience and profit over lives. This is in addition to EMA’s recent testimonies respectively attacking the speedy adoption of the proposed EPA NOx emissions standards and California state waivers as well as the California state Advanced Clean Trucks rule. Accompanying these efforts is a campaign called “CleanTruckFacts,” which condescends to the public – your valued customers – and attempts to mislead them into supporting weaker regulations.  

Opposing vehicle emission standards is self-defeating if manufacturers really want to clean up their act. Adoption of foundational emission standards like the Heavy Duty Omnibus, the Advanced Clean Truck rule and a strong national heavy-duty vehicle emissions rule unlock additional policies and resources to help transition to zero-emission vehicles across the country. Diesel-powered trucks are a dirty fixture in our nation’s neighborhoods, spewing pollution near our homes, schools, and places of recreation. We need strong clean truck standards to help deliver vital relief that the most highly impacted communities demand and deserve. EMA’s efforts to fight these life-saving policies are a direct attack on these communities’ right to a clean air future. 

We want to believe that zeroing out emissions from your vehicles is important to your companies and shareholders. Your press statements and social media feeds are full of supportive messages about your commitment to cleaner transportation, but the actions of the EMA lay in glaring contrast.

It’s time for these signaled commitments to become concrete action – please publicly distance yourself from the EMA lawsuit and the EMA’s testimonies on the respective proposed rules by the EPA on NOx standards and the California waivers as well as California state on the Advanced Clean Trucks rule.

We are watching closely and look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

California Environmental Voters
California Interfaith Power & Light
Center for Biological Diversity
Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice
Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT)
Central California Asthma Collaborative 
Coalition For A Safe Environment
Coalition for Clean Air
Connecticut Citizen Action Group (CCAG)
Connecticut League of Conservation Voters
Connecticut Roundtable on Climate and Jobs
Earthjustice
Eastern CT Green Action 
Elders Climate Action
GreenLatinos
Illinois Environmental Council
Interfaith Power & Light 
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) 569
League of Conservation Voters
Let’s Green CA!
Little Village Environmental Justice Organization
Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
People’s Collective for Environmental Justice
Plug In America
Prosperity Works
Public Citizen
SanDiego350
Sierra Club 
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
Southern Environmental Law Center
Stand.earth
The Greenlining Institute
Union of Concerned Scientists

Send an email to EMA leadership now to add your voice.