Groups and public health professionals urge EPA to enact strict clean car standards

Changes would lead to cleaner air and play bigger role in tackling climate change

Environment America

WASHINGTON – Environment America, along with numerous medical and public health experts, sent a letter Wednesday to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) calling on the EPA to adopt a stricter automotive emission standard, known as Alternative #2, than what is currently under consideration. This request comes as the Biden administration considers revisions to existing national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions regulations for passenger cars and light trucks.

Right now, the primary rule being considered by the EPA falls short, according to the letter, because it reduces emissions at a significantly slower rate than Alternative #2. While it is more meaningful than the rule fashioned by the previous administration, it is not as strong as previous regulations set under President Barack Obama. Alternative #2 would put 400,000 extra electric vehicles on the road by 2026 and result in 130 million metric tons fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

“More than five years ago, the Obama-Biden administration took the strongest federal action in U.S. history to reduce global warming pollution, only to be stalled out by the automakers reneging on their promise.” said Morgan Folger, Environment America Destination: Zero Carbon campaign director. “It’s no coincidence that as pollution has increased over the past half-decade, the wildfire season has lengthened and grown more intense, coastal communities have been torn apart by destructive hurricanes fueled by warmer oceans, and inland communities have seen more than their fair share of 100-year floods. We can’t turn back the clock five years, so we have to go even faster to zero out pollution from our cars and trucks and solve this climate crisis.”

Not only do greenhouse gas emissions contribute to climate change, but they also prematurely lead to the deaths of an estimated 58,000 lives each year. A 2019 study estimated that transportation emissions were associated with more than a quarter of U.S. deaths caused by fine particulate matter produced by human activities. With transportation being America’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, the letter explains that America cannot afford not to adopt stricter standards. 

“It is imperative that the federal government take action to decrease auto emissions to minimize the effect of air pollution on human health,” wrote Chrysan Cronin, DrPH, MPH, MS, director and associate professor of public health at Muhlenberg College, in the letter. “As climate change continues to cause a rise in temperature, an increase in the number of days exposed to ground level ozone can cause chest pain, coughing and throat irritation, and can lead to decreased lung function and cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.” 

Ensuring we can breathe easily is more important than ever. 

“Inflammation from air pollution not only increases risk of COVID-19 infection, but also contributes to a large number of health conditions from asthma to even cardiovascular disease,” Meilan Han, MD, MS, incoming chief, Pulmonary & Critical Care, University of Michigan, author of Breathing Lessons: A Doctor’s Guide to Lung Health, explained in the letter. “The damage to human health from air pollution has now been detected even in utero. We can no longer afford to be complacent.”