Anyone who has experienced a red wind day knows the metallic taste of air pollution that leaves a sting in your nose and lungs. On red air days, when pollution reaches unhealthy levels, people are advised to stay indoors and avoid outdoor activities, especially the elderly, children, pregnant women and those with respiratory diseases.
Now, guess what is the main cause of toxic air in most places?
MIAMI – JULY 11: Exhaust flows from the exhaust of a vehicle at the , “Mufflers 4 Less”, July 11, … [+]
Internal combustion engines powered by gas or diesel spew foul pollution into our lungs and atmosphere. More than two-thirds of Americans rely on personal cars for daily travel. And transportation is now the largest source of climate change-accelerating greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, with light-duty vehicles alone responsible for almost 60% of this sector’s climate pollution.
Addressing the pervasive problem of air pollution requires reducing the exhaust pollution from the cars we drive. Fortunately, we have a proven tool to make vehicles cleaner so we can all breathe easier: tailpipe emissions standards.
Last week the US Environmental Protection Agency took this tool out of the clean air toolbox. EPA made history by adoption of new rules for multiple pollutants for light and smaller medium-duty vehicles that reduce the exhaust pollution that poisons the air we breathe and accelerates climate change. These updated standards force automakers to adopt the latest clean technologies to ensure new vehicles are cleaner than ever.
Everyone, everywhere should have the option to make their next car a clean car. Americans who care about reducing pollution deserve the choice to drive electric.
Polluters want you to hate the EPA’s pollution limits
Air pollution harms 36 percent of the US population—or nearly 120 million people. According to the American Lung Association, more than 1 in 3 Americans live in places with unhealthy levels of air pollution, which affects lung development in children and can cause emphysema, asthma, chronic bronchitis and other respiratory diseases. People of color and low-income people are disproportionately affected by air pollution.
Anyone who likes to breathe cleaner air should celebrate right now. But the companies that profit from selling the vehicles that pollute our air and the oil that burns a hole in our wallets see these standards as a threat. They say these standards threaten American consumer freedoms and choices.
But the truth is, these updated pollution limits are long overdue and will benefit all Americans by cleaning the air we breathe and giving consumers the option to get off the expensive fossil fuel roller coaster.
Consider the launch of a “major seven-figure issues campaign by American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers in seven critical states—Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada, Arizona, Ohio and Montana—and the Beltway, all aimed at informing Americans about the government Biden. efforts to ban new gas, diesel, and flex-fuel vehicles from the U.S. market.”
In other words, profit-making polluting companies have responded to the EPA’s updated emissions standards by actively manipulating the American public into believing the standards are unreasonable. The public disinformation campaign wants people to believe that the rules are a ban on petrol cars.
This is simply false. By law, EPA does not and cannot prohibit technologies or modes of transportation. EPA’s standards are technology-neutral, performance-based, and informed by science and peer-reviewed research.
The Clean Air Act, signed into law in 1970, authorizes and directs the EPA to establish National Ambient Air Quality Standards to protect public health and welfare, to regulate hazardous emissions of air pollutants. The Clean Air Act also directs the EPA to regulate emissions from vehicles and engines and adjust the standard over time.
Early standards for light vehicles required a 90 percent reduction in hydrocarbon, nitrogen oxide, and carbon monoxide emissions, which led to the development of new engine and emission control technologies such as the catalytic converter and switching to unleaded fuel.
Before the Clean Air Act was signed, our cities were choking on air pollution so dense that breathing New York’s air was as bad as smoking two packs of cigarettes a day, and Los Angeles suffered from unhealthy levels of air pollution more than 200 days a year.
(Original Caption) 6/13/1979-Los Angeles, California- A lone onlooker sees a smog-covered downtown Los … [+]
50 years later, our air is much cleaner. However, despite decades of progress in reducing harmful emissions, air pollution from motor vehicles continues to harm public health, welfare and the environment. Gas-powered vehicles will always pump ozone, air pollution, particulates and other toxic chemicals into our air.
These same corporate polluters who are fighting the EPA’s clean air action today have been fighting against clean air for decades, all for the same reason – profit.
EPA’s updated standards help level the playing field for more advanced technologies, such as battery electric vehicles, to compete in the marketplace. They are signaling to the auto industry that now is the time to take advantage rapid decline in EV battery costs to provide more affordable clean vehicle options for all consumers.
Most importantly, the EPA rules correct market failures that have allowed corporate fossil fuel profiteers to dump pollution and rising fuel costs on the American public, polluting the air we breathe while endangering our health and climate stability .
Better exhaust pollution standards mean better quality of life
By setting responsible limits on exhaust pollution, the updated EPA standards put the US on a new path for cleaner air, better health and a stable climate. These rules also mean more affordable clean vehicle models on the road for decades to come, saving consumers money every year over the life of the vehicles. Today, EV models are cheaper to fill up than gasoline vehicles in every stateputting money back into people’s wallets with every trip they take
The data shows that electric vehicles are cheaper to fill up than gas vehicles in every state.
EPA’s final rule adopts more stringent emission standards for pollutant and greenhouse gas criteria for model years 2027-2032 for light-duty vehicles (passenger vehicles), as well as medium-sized vehicles in categories 2b and 3 (categories based on gross vehicle weight rating · a Ford F-250 is a Class 2b vehicle, while a Ford F-350 is a Class 3 vehicle).
According to EPA’s estimatesthe rules will:
- Reduce harmful air pollutants by 8,700 tonnes of particulate matter, 36,000 tonnes of nitrogen oxides and 150,000 tonnes of volatile organic compounds in 2055. These pollutants contribute to smog, soot and bad air days.
- Provide $13 billion in annual health benefits.
- Reduce about 7.2 billion metric tons of net CO2 emissions in the transport sector between 2027 and 2055 (the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions at 29 percent of our total).
- Provide regulatory incentives for vehicle manufacturers to produce engines that emit fewer harmful pollutants, helping more people choose cleaner cars.
- Zero-emission battery electric vehicle sales increase over time, from 26% of all new vehicle sales in 2027 to 56% in 2032
- Deliver $99 billion in annual net benefits to society by 2055. This includes $46 billion in reduced annual fuel costs and nearly $16 billion in reduced maintenance and repair costs for drivers.
- Save consumers an average of $6,000 over the lifetime of a new clean vehicle.
- Expand consumer choices for American drivers.
Strong standards and new incentives will clear the air for generations to come
EPA’s updated standards combined with new clean vehicle incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act and new funding in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act is poised to change the way we get around. Tax incentives and new funding for vehicles, infrastructure, manufacturing and the entire clean vehicle supply chain can propel the US toward transportation transformation.
As it has done for the past 50 years, the EPA is improving air quality. These updated standards reflect significant investments in clean vehicle technologies already being made by the automotive industry and support growing consumer demand for clean air and a climate-safe future.
In time, the updated standards could put the days of toxic red air in the mirror — something that will help us all breathe easier.
