NATIONAL - Tomorrow, in honor of Rosa Parks’ birthday, labor unions, racial justice groups, environmental organizations, transit groups, and disability advocates are joining together to elevate public transit as a civil right and essential to decarbonizing the US transportation system.
For the sixth year in a row, in honor of Rosa Parks’ birthday, the Transit Equity Network has joined together transit riders, community organizations, civil rights groups, environmental and climate justice groups and transit worker unions to organize around Transit Equity Day. The Network observes February 4 as Transit Equity Day annually to honor Rosa Parks and other civil rights leaders and advocate for transit as a civil right and a climate change solution.
NATIONWIDE - Today, the US Department of Transportation announced $800 million in grants to fund 510 projects in communities across the country to make both urban and rural neighborhoods safer for people to walk and bike. This funding comes out of the Bipartisan Infrastructure law passed last year, and represents the first round of funding for the Safe Streets and Roads for All program.
WASHINGTON, DC - Today, more than two dozen environment, health, and consumer advocacy organizations sent a letter to Truck and Engine Manufacturer Association (EMA) member companies asking them to leave the EMA, which is well-known for working to stall and weaken clean air safeguards across the country.
NATIONWIDE - Today, the Sierra Club, Plug In America, the Electrification Coalition, and Forth released the latest version of AchiEVe: Model Policies to Accelerate Electric Vehicle Adoption, a national toolkit designed to accelerate the switch to clean, electric vehicles (EVs) in an effective and equitable way by providing various stakeholders with model EV policies at the state, local, and utility levels.
Washington D.C. – Yesterday, on the first day of the Washington D.C. Auto Show, auto accountability experts from health, faith and environmental advocacy groups held a press conference in front of the Convention Center calling on automakers to produce more, clean electric vehicles. Advocates condemned car companies like Toyota for prioritizing profit over our collective health and safety.
PORTLAND — Today, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) voted to adopt the Advanced Clean Cars II (ACCII) program, setting the state on a path to lower vehicle emissions and a healthy transition to electric vehicles and cleaner air, by requiring that every new light-duty vehicle sold in Oregon to be a zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) by 2035.
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.
WASHINGTON, DC - Today, after a year and a half of significant public pressure over the Postal Service’s unpopular and short-sighted decision to buy hundreds of thousands of gas-powered trucks and stick to a fleet of merely 10 percent electric vehicles, and then 40 percent, the agency announced a major reversal to clean up the whole of the delivery truck fleet.
Seattle, WA - Today, the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology) announced their adoption of three regulations: the Advanced Clean Cars II Rule (ACC II), the Heavy-Duty Omnibus Low NOx Rule, and the Fleet Reporting Requirement. ACC II requires an increasing percentage of new zero-emission (includes battery electric, plug-in hybrid, and fuel cell electric) light-duty passenger vehicles (ZEVs) be made available in Washington State, culminating in 100% new zero-emission sales by model year 2035 and beyond.
New York, NY - Today, as the New York City Council Committee on Environmental Protection held its first hearing on the Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEV) for NYC Act (Intro 279), environmental advocacy groups, clean energy and micromobility industry leaders, and elected officials announced their support for this transformational bill that would require NYC to convert its entire fleet of 30,000+ vehicles to ZEVs. Working on an accelerated timeline that begins in 2025, the bill would mandate the full conversion of all municipal vehicle purchases by July 1, 2035, making NYC the largest municipal fleet in the nation to transition to 100% ZEVs.
NATIONWIDE - Today, a broad coalition of 114 organizations, representing communities across the nation, sent a letter to the EPA urging the agency to move forward with three Clean Air Act waivers that are essential for states to protect their residents from toxic pollution from heavy-duty vehicles like trucks and buses.