On The Road to Strong Tailpipe Pollution Standards: Moms Make News

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Written by Sarah McBride

Moms were proud to join Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan at EPA Headquarters for the agency’s announcement of its newly-proposed tailpipe pollution standards. Moms hail this proposal as a “historic step forward in cleaning up tailpipe emissions,” and, as West Virginia organizer Lucia Valentine tells the Charleston Gazette-Mail, an “opportunity we can’t miss.” EcoMadres co-lead Liz Hurtado spoke at the event alongside her daughter Leena (above).

  • Cutting pollution from cars and trucks is a win for both climate and public health. The transportation sector is the largest source of climate pollution in the US, and exposure to vehicle exhaust can result in asthma, lung infections, heart attacks, stroke, premature death, low birth weight, and cancer.
  • The burden is not distributed equitably. A high percentage of communities of color and lower-income communities are located near roads, highways, and other major sources of tailpipe pollution due to decades of “housing discrimination and unjust policies,” our Senior Legislative and Regulatory Policy Manager Melody Reis tells Smart Cities Dive and Utility Dive
  • Strong, health-protective standards are key to tackling environmental injustice. Liz Hurtado highlights this point in interviews with Washington Post and Bloomberg, as does EcoMadres Program Manager Carolina Peña-Alarcón in an interview with Univision. Liz’s interviews also ran in The Philadelphia Inquirer and other outlets.

Moms are celebrating EPA’s move to protect us from toxic tailpipes, but the fight for strong pollution safeguards isn’t over. As Melody tells E&E Greenwire: “We just want to make sure that the strongest possible protections are what ends up being enacted.” Melody also discusses the proposal with Gray Television in a segment that ran in at least 27 other outlets.

STATE OF THE AIR: The American Lung Association released its annual “State of the Air” report last week. The report delivered bad news to the nearly 120 million Americans breathing unhealthy levels of air pollution.

  • Phoenix, Arizona ranked as one of the most polluted cities in the US. Again. Texas organizer Erandi Treviño talked to Cronkite News about the city’s dubious distinction, emphasizing that addressing the nation’s air pollution problem demands a multifaceted approach. The Arizona Capitol Times also ran this story.

SIMPLE MATH: School buses, minus the pollution, equals healthier kids. Our National Manager of Health Equity Almeta Cooper explains this equation in Bloomberg for the outlet’s deep dive into electric school buses. This article also ran in Autoblog.

  • Almeta is one of our in-house school bus experts. She made the case for electric school buses at a panel last month that was covered by FreshWater Cleveland.
  • The danger of diesel-powered buses also came up at a panel that featured our Iowa organizer Karin Stein, according to Black News and Breathing Labs.
  • Kids are more vulnerable to the health impacts of air pollution than healthy adults, EcoMadres Program Manager Carolina Peña-Alarcón explains in an interview with Univision. This is why Moms are dedicated to making sure that school buses – the vehicles millions of children ride every day––are pollution-free.
  • You might have seen an electric school bus this weekend, if you attended the Oakland County Earth Day event in Royal Oaks, Michigan this weekend. Moms was one of the organizers hosting the event, which was promoted in reporting by Royal Oak Tribune and C & G Newspapers.

Honorable mentions: A couple news hits that deserve a shout-out!

  • Ohio River Valley organizer Rachel Meyer is quoted in an article by PA Environment Digest Blog about yet another series of air quality violations at Shell’s ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, Pennsylvania.
  • A recent Gen Dread newsletter includes Moms’ petition urging Congress to support youth mental health and comprehensive climate education.
  • KUNM names Moms as one of the groups that disapprove of New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s vetoes of tax credits for electric vehicles, geothermal development, and energy storage.
  • Pennsylvania Moms joined US Representative Summer Lee in calling for stronger petrochemical protections in the wake of the chemical disaster in East Palestine, Ohio. Pennsylvania Capital-Star covers the press conference.
  • EcoWatch’s article about EPA’s clean transportation proposal prominently features Moms in the article photo.
  • Care.com’s guide to taking climate action as a family quotes our former Public Health Policy Director Molly Rauch.
  • A press release from the office of Senator Ed Markey points to Moms as one of the organizations endorsing the Green New Deal.

TELL EPA: SET STRONG LIMITS ON CLIMATE POLLUTION FROM HEAVY-DUTY TRUCKS

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