Route Zero Relay
Sierra Club just wrapped up its participation in a cross–country electric vehicle relay that spurred enthusiasm for everything we stand to gain from accelerating the nation’s transition to cleaner vehicles: cleaner air, less climate pollution, healthier communities, and more savings for families.
This week, the Relay – which began in late April on the Santa Monica Pier and made its way across various stops on the historic Route 66, as well as other cities, including Joliet, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Baltimore; Maryland– concluded in front of the US Environmental Protection Agency headquarters. Several of our Chapters and local staff, including in California, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, and Minnesota, spoke at or showed up at the press events.
During some stops, like Detroit, the timing of bad air quality alerts spoke intimately to the issue. As Michigan Chapter Director Elayne Elliot said during the Route Zero press event in Detroit: "Like too many Detroiters this week, I found myself reaching for my inhaler and struggling to control my asthma more than usual because of the wildfire smoke that’s blowing over from Canada."
Bigger and longer-lasting wildfires are linked to the effects of climate change. This is one example we’re experiencing currently of how our climate crisis has a direct impact on the health and well-being of our communities. This shows the urgency with which we need to move away from climate-disrupting transportation.
The Relay wasn’t just press events. We sponsored ads in local newspapers, ran ads on electric vehicle charging stations, and distributed Route Zero coffee sleeves, bar coasters, and sidewalk decals to spread the word.
At the relay's end in DC, together, our coalition “delivered” over 130,000 public comments to agency staff (sent electronically)!
#RouteZero Relay in Washington DC today! @SierraClub in the house (in front of the @EPA) representing ✊🏼
— Larisa Mănescu 🌻 Y’all means ALL! 🏳️⚧️ (@LarisaManescu) June 28, 2023
Together our coalition has collected over 130,000 (!!!) public comments so far that we’re symbolically delivering today. pic.twitter.com/K7YEZp2rn4
While the EPA event was focused on the light-duty comments, the Relay over the last couple months also amplified the EPA’s heavy-duty proposal, which focuses on cleaning up tailpipe pollution from our largest and dirtiest vehicles and was open at the same time as the light-duty comment period.
Today is the last day of the @EPA's public comment period on #CleanerTrucks. Thank you to the 17,000+ people in our community that participated in strengthening this important proposal! 💪🗣️🚛🚍
— Sierra Club (@SierraClub) June 16, 2023
We joined partners @EnvDefenseFund & @CleanAirMoms to meet with EPA & deliver them! pic.twitter.com/JEWnArKrwV
The Sierra Club community contributed tens of thousands of comments for both light-duty and heavy-duty proposals. We appreciate each and every one of you that showed up to a Route Zero event in your community, wrote a public comment, or spoke in front of the EPA for these important standards!
Although the comment periods are wrapping up, it’s not the end of the road yet. We will continue to organize, write Letters to the Editor, and collaborate in our coalition to ensure the EPA finalizes the strongest pollution standards to protect our communities from the deadly and daily presence of transportation pollution from our cars, trucks, and buses.