EPA Must Continue to Push Automakers for Cleaner Vehicles
At public hearing, advocates demand accountability for automakers seeking to delay pollution protections
WASHINGTON, DC — Advocates representing public health workers, environmental justice communities, and consumers testified last week at an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) public hearing on the agency’s proposed Revision of Tier 4 Criteria Pollutant Standards, Part 1: Amendments to Phase-In Schedule for Light-Duty and Medium-Duty Vehicles.. The advocates delivered a unified message: automakers should not be rewarded for broken promises, delayed electric vehicle (EV) investments, and extensive lobbying to weaken vehicle emissions standards.
Representatives from GreenLatinos, Sierra Club, Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, and Public Citizen condemned the EPA’s proposal to weaken clean vehicle standards, warning that doing so would force families, workers, and frontline communities to absorb the cost of corporate delay, while letting manufacturers off the hook for commitments they made and walked back.
Automakers spent years promising consumers, workers, investors, and policymakers an electric future, while simultaneously lobbying against the very standards that would have pushed automakers to build cleaner cars. Now, after slowing their own progress and walking back commitments, those same manufacturers are asking the EPA to weaken clean vehicle standards. Advocates argued these companies created the regulatory uncertainty they now cite as a reason to delay, and called on the EPA to strengthen accountability, not reward delay.
“Automakers had years to prepare for these standards. Many now asking for a delay are the same companies that lobbied against the rules and walked back the EV commitments they made to workers and consumers. Michigan’s autoworkers have already had to deal with the consequences of pullbacks on EV production that already cost manufacturing jobs and left workers exposed to a boom-and-bust cycle they did not choose. Strong standards give workers a durable market signal and sustain long-term investment in Michigan plants, batteries, and supply chains.” said Bryan Smigielski from Sierra Club.
“Delaying the 2024 light- and medium-duty criteria pollutant standards means exposure to more toxic air pollution and more adverse health outcomes. EPA should prioritize families, workers, and frontline communities over automakers seeking relief from standards they had years to prepare for” said Cara Cook, registered nurse and representing the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments.
“These vehicle emissions standards are technologically achievable, economically beneficial, rooted in science, and essential for protecting American health, jobs, and energy independence. In the face of rising healthcare costs, as well as at the risk of falling behind further in the global market, it would be a travesty if EPA failed to hear the public outcry to meet this moment. The EPA must not delay nor weaken these standards,” said Will Anderson, representing Public Citizen.
“As a public health professional, ER & ICU Nurse of 30 years I am concerned about how a delay of these rules will impact Communities situated near major transportation corridors, ports, and warehouses – often low-income communities and communities of color – that bear a disproportionate and morally unacceptable burden of this pollution. Strong vehicle standards are one of the most effective tools to reduce these harmful exposures and advance environmental justice” says Juan Roberto Madrid, representing GreenLatinos as a Sustainable Communities Program Manager
These groups are among those calling on the EPA to uphold and strengthen Tier 4 light-duty vehicle standards and reject any rollback that rewards automakers for broken commitments at the expense of American families, workers, and communities. The EPA has a duty to protect the American people, not side with auto manufacturers and corporate lobbying interests.
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