Dear California Air Resources
Board:
Please accept these 2,648 public comments
from members and online activists of the Natural Resources Defense
Council (NRDC) urging you to strengthen your Advanced Clean Fleets
rule from the current proposal. As it stands, this standard
wouldn’t go far enough to keep our communities safe from
harmful air pollution caused by trucks.
Californians have had to deal with dangerous
levels of nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) in our
air for too long. This is an environmental justice issue:
communities of color and low-income communities are the most likely
to be nearby major freight routes and therefore exposed to this
pollution. As a result, residents face greater risks of asthma,
lung cancer, heart disease, and strokes.
The current proposal leaves too many of
California’s buses and trucks unaccounted for. In addition,
it would fail to get us to 100% zero-emission truck fleets by the
Governor’s goal of 2045. The following changes would
strengthen the rule and protect more people from harmful air
pollution:
* Require 100% zero-emission vehicle sales by
2036
* Clean up the biggest and dirtiest vehicles
on our road, by regulating tractor trucks fleets with 10 vehicles
or more and speeding up their timeline for transitioning to
zero-emission
There’s no time to waste when it comes
to cleaning up our air. We urge you to make these changes to
strengthen the rule.
Thank you.