TELL EPA: TRUCK MAKERS ARE READY FOR STRONGER STANDARDS

Truck makers have agreed to go further than ever to curb pollution and accelerate zero-emission vehicle sales—now EPA needs to catch up.

Friend,

This is a great day for communities across the country that, for decades, have been forced to inhale deadly truck pollution. 

My name is Craig Segall, and I want to tell you the story behind today's great news: The world’s leading truck makers and their trade group—after years of foot-dragging—have agreed to commit to stronger pollution standards on trucks.

As Evergreen's new vice president of policy and a former lead air quality official for the state of California, I could not be more excited about this win. Both Evergreen and my former team at the California Air Resources Board played an important role in making this happen, supporting leaders from burdened communities across the country.

And now the work has paid off.

Truck makers have inked a deal with California to follow its world-leading truck smog controls regardless of a wave of legal challenges, and, even more excitingly, to follow its requirements that they vastly accelerate zero-emission vehicle sales, setting the course for 100 percent zero emissions by the mid-2030s.

For the millions of people who have been forced to inhale deadly pollution from big trucks in communities across the country—and especially communities of color due to the racist planning of our road system—this is a major reprieve. 

In my last role, I steered the teams developing those standards and urged the truck makers to come to the table. It's been a long road: Industry started out by threatening to sue California and EPA over pollution controls and was only fought back by continued movement pressure. Facing determined state regulators and clear-eyed movement leaders, the giant trucking industry was forced to make a U-turn. 

We need to keep the pressure on and hold them to these commitments—and push them to keep going further.

Crucially, those standards are way more ambitious than the rules that EPA has been working on—so this becomes a major opportunity for the Biden Administration to go further, faster, now that even industry has acknowledged it can do more. 

EPA must take that next step by tightening carbon pollution and smog rules for trucks—and then clean up pollution from the rest of the dirty freight system, like locomotives and airplanes.

With this deal in hand, we finally have a chance to clear the air in the communities that need it the most.

Onward,

Craig Segall
Vice President of Policy
Evergreen Collaborative