Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel today joined a coalition of 23 attorneys general and four cities in filing a motion yesterday to intervene in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to help defend the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s final greenhouse gas emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles. These vehicles include freight trucks, delivery trucks, buses, shuttles, and vocational vehicles such as street sweepers and refuse haulers. The rule will reduce 1 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions and result in $10 billion annual climate benefits, $300 million in annual non-greenhouse gas public health benefits and $3.5 billion in annual operational savings for the trucking industry over the lifetime of these vehicles. Currently, the rule is being challenged by 25 Republican-led states, which seek to stop emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles from taking effect.
“We know the impact greenhouse gas emissions have on our public health and climate,” Nessel said. “That’s why the EPA’s standards for heavy-duty vehicles are critical. Reducing harmful pollutants means cleaner air for Michiganders to enjoy the Great Lakes State while unlocking innovation in cleaner technologies. I proudly stand with my colleagues in supporting these standards.”
Transportation is the leading source of GHG emissions in the country, and heavy-duty vehicles contribute 25% of emissions within the sector, making them the second-largest contributor of transportation emissions. In addition, heavy-duty vehicles are a significant source of non-GHG pollution that detrimentally affects air quality and imposes serious health effects including premature death and asthma. The impacts of both climate change and poor air quality disproportionately harm environmental justice communities, especially the 72 million Americans who live near major truck freight routes, who are more likely to be people of color or low-income.
Nessel is joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, the city and county of Denver, and the cities of Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York in filing the motion.
Original source can be found here.