Photo by Will Anderson
2024 was a year of steady progress for clean transportation. We started seeing the widespread benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act rolling out to communities: Kids breathing clean air while riding electric school buses, USPS enjoying their new electric mail trucks, consumers saving billions when buying used and new EVs, and ports curbing pollution by switching to zero-emission trucks and equipment.
Then November came along and the federal election presented a pendulum swing. This shift threatens our communities, our climate, our public health, and our economy. But we planned for this possibility, and we’re moving forward with this reminder: We’ve been here before. The Sierra Club has already faced Trump and we have a plan.
On the transportation front, we’re gearing up to roll up our sleeves in 2025 and work to increase EV adoption, reduce freight emissions, and improve mobility for everyone. We’re ready to push back on the federal rollbacks that are sure to come, and to elevate state and local leadership.
Before the year wraps up, we wanted to take a moment and celebrate our wins and the hard work of so many in our community. There’s a lot to celebrate for cleaning up the transportation system this year.
Every step of the way, Sierra Club advocates showed up in their communities to deliver change and usher in a cleaner transportation system.
We condensed all the good stuff into five top highlights:
1. The Environmental Protection Agency finalized new, stronger emissions standards for cars, trucks, and buses, ensuring cleaner air for millions of Americans.
Sierra Club advocates spoke at public hearings, submitted comments, and showed up at press conferences to urge the EPA to adopt strong standards.
The EPA’s long-term clean car standards will help cut climate pollution, improve public health and save drivers money through reduced fuel and maintenance costs, as CTFA Director Katherine García outlined in her co-authored op-ed in The Hill this spring pushing back on Big Oil lobbying. These strongest-ever standards will:
- Avoid more than 7 billion tons of carbon emissions
- Provide nearly $100 billion of annual net benefits to society, including $13 billion of annual public health benefits due to improved air quality, and $62 billion in reduced annual fuel costs, and maintenance and repair costs for drivers.
As Ben Jealous stated in his Common Dreams op-ed, federal clean truck standards had gone without an update in 20 years, making the new standards that will slash pollution from our nation’s trucks and buses a “no brainer” and an important environmental justice issue.
2. The Biden-Harris administration distributed billions of dollars for clean transportation through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
It’s the gift that keeps on giving. IIJA and IRA money is going towards cleaner school buses for kids, cleaner ports across the country, and tax credits for new and used vehicles to help more people drive cleaner cars. EV buyers saved over $2 billion at dealerships with the IRA tax credit!
The IRA funded the Postal Service’s new electric mail vehicles, which drivers love. In addition to being electric, the trucks have more space and most importantly, air-conditioning – a massive upgrade from the old, polluting, and sweltering trucks of the 1980s. Sierra Club advocacy and your public pressure helped get the Postal Service to commit to 100 percent electric purchases by 2026, when USPS had originally planned to electrify a mere 10 percent of their fleet.
Billions of IIJA dollars are going to reconnect communities across the country that have been historically divided by highways, covering highways with public spaces, creating new transit routes, and adding sidewalks, bridges, bike lanes, and more.
3. Some of that federal funding is supporting 122 rail projects in 41 states & Washington D.C.
Investing in rail in the US is badly needed and sorely overdue, so this $2.1 billion deserves a special highlight. Noteworthy projects include the restoration of Amtrak to the Gulf Coast, several zero emission locomotive pilot projects in Arizona and California, and worker training investments for rail maintenance in Delaware, Montana, and Virginia, creating hundreds of jobs.
4. Sierra Club showed up for National Week Without Driving.
We partnered with America Walks for this year’s Week Without Driving in September. From taking the train to the beach in California to taking the bus to the park in Minnesota, Sierra Club staff and volunteers engaged in the initiative in various ways. But many barriers exist to going car-free in most neighborhoods across the country – we distributed a survey to learn from many of you about these barriers and what you’d like to see in your town to make getting around without driving easier.
CTFA Deputy Director Jesse Piedfort and North Star Chapter Senior Land Use and Transportation Manager Joshua Houdek even got to join Anna Zivarts, who launched the Week Without Driving challenge in 2021, for a virtual chat about her book “When Driving Is Not An Option.”
CTFA Senior Advisor Rebekah Whilden published an op-ed, “There’s Still Time to Reverse Our Car Dependency” in Charlotte’s Queen City Nerve.
5. We helped save congestion pricing in New York City, bringing in more funding for the subway.
This summer, Governor Hochul announced an “indefinite pause” of congestion pricing. Earthjustice, Sierra Club, Riders Alliance, and New York City-Environmental Justice Alliance filed a lawsuit on behalf of our collective members who need relief from the air pollution and traffic congestion, and for major MTA improvements such as elevators and faster subway services.
In November, New York state leaders and our coalition reached an agreement to ensure that the Congestion Pricing Program will begin as scheduled on January 5, 2025.
New York’s Congestion Pricing Program will provide a valuable model for other states and cities confronting severe traffic congestion and needing to invest in public transportation.