Larisa Manescu, larisa.manescu@sierraclub.org
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Environmental Protection Agency released its final rule updating federal standards that will reduce pollution from heavy-duty vehicles. The rule released today targets NOx pollution from trucks and buses, a major threat to public health for millions of Americans and especially dangerous for marginalized communities across the nation that live next to major freight corridors. The rule–the first update to federal truck standards in over 20 years–will go into effect in model year 2027.
Over a three-day hearing this spring, hundreds of advocates urged the EPA to adopt the most stringent rule possible, so as to prioritize the health of communities and our climate over trucking industry pressure to maintain the status quo.
EPA has indicated that it intends to update its greenhouse gas standards for heavy vehicles in a separate final rule next year.
In response to the final rule release, Sierra Club President Ramón Cruz released the following statement:
“The largest vehicles on our roads are hurting the health of millions of Americans. These updated federal standards provide long overdue reductions in diesel pollution. But more work is needed to protect communities living with daily pollution from trucks passing through the neighborhoods where children go to school and where families live, work, and play.
“We will continue our advocacy for strong standards to clean up trucks, including urging states to move forward with protective regulations, for the EPA to confirm states’ authority to provide those protections for communities, and for the EPA to ensure a strong greenhouse gas rule in 2023.”
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.