Mothers & Others For Clean Air’s Dr. Anne Mellinger-Birdsong spoke at today’s EPA hearing about stronger vehicle emission standards for heavy-duty trucks.
EPA proposed to strengthen the standards so that there is less air pollution, especially less nitrogen oxides, from heavy-duty vehicles (such as long-haul trucks).
Here is her spoken testimony:
“I’m a pediatrician who specializes in environmental public health. I’m speaking on behalf of Mothers & Others For Clean Air. We support EPA’s proposal to strengthen emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles.
“I live in Atlanta, which is a trucking hub. We are the intersection of 3 busy interstates, with many warehouses and multimodal facilities. Trucks carry items here, leave with different items, and they carry items brought up from the ports by rail. This heavy-duty vehicle traffic creates air pollution which I and my family breathe.
“A recent study found that nitrogen oxides are higher in areas that were formerly redlined. (1) Because redlining was in effect when we designed the interstate highway system, we built our highways and warehouses in the middle of black and brown communities. Even though redlining was outlawed decades ago, the structural inequities built into our country then continue to cause exposure and health disparities to this day.
“Almost one third of the nitrogen oxide air pollution comes from heavy-duty vehicles. Nitrogen oxides damage airways and cause asthma, asthma attacks in those with asthma, they worsen emphysema and COPD, and can also trigger preexisting heart disease leading to premature death. Nitrogen oxides also serve as a substrate for ozone formation, and combine with other air pollutants to make fine particulate matter. Both ozone and particulates damage health and cause deaths.
“A recent study in the BMJ found that nitrogen dioxide (NO2) causes 1.6% of all deaths in the U.S.(2) This study found a no-threshold correlation between NO2 and death, meaning there are excess deaths at every level of NO2 above zero. Nitrogen oxides are deadly.
“Children are especially vulnerable to air pollution. Children have a higher minute-ventilation, spend more time running and playing outside, and they are still growing and developing. Nitrogen oxides can cause asthma attacks in children and stunt teens’ lung growth. Air pollution from trucks is especially harmful for black and brown children because of where we built our highways.
“Children do not choose where they live, where they go to school, or whether the air they breathe is healthy or polluted. Adults decide all these things for them. We have the responsibility to be sure they breathe clean, healthy air.
“At Mothers & Others For Clean Air, we say “Healthy Air Is Health Care.” Stronger emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles will create cleaner, healthier air, and will reduce hospitalizations and deaths. We support this proposed rule, and urge EPA to make it as strong as possible.”
References:
1. Lane, et al. Historical Redlining Is Associated with Present-Day Air Pollution Disparities in U.S. Cities. Environ Sci Technol Letters 2022. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.1c01012
2. Meng, et al. Short term associations of ambient nitrogen dioxide with daily total, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality: multilocation analysis in 398 cities. BMJ 2021. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n534
04/12/2022
