March 6, 2021 By Ramona du Houx Elected officials, environmental, health, environmental justice, equity, and business groups are urging President Biden to act swiftly on tailpipe standards. The letter highlighted how the U.S. is behind Europe and China when it comes to research and development of battery technologies for electric vehicles. “We request that you also support incentives to […]
President Joe Biden walks with his dogs Major and Champ in the Rose Garden of the White House Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021. (Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz)
March 6, 2021
By Ramona du Houx
Elected officials, environmental, health, environmental justice, equity, and business groups are urging President Biden to act swiftly on tailpipe standards.
The letter highlighted how the U.S. is behind Europe and China when it comes to research and development of battery technologies for electric vehicles.
“We request that you also support incentives to develop and produce zero-emission vehicle technologies in the U.S., helping to promote good paying jobs here,” they wrote.
Medium and heavy-duty vehicles (MHDVs), trucks, are responsible for 23 percent of transportation emissions despite being only 5 percent of vehicles on the road. The letter sites the health impacts on communities of color and low income – tailpipe communities and demands action.
“Ambitious standards that drive electrification for medium and heavy-duty vehicles are essential for protecting health in communities adjacent to highways, ports, warehouses, and freight corridors,” they wrote.
They are requesting that the President immediately:
Restores Obama-era tailpipe emissions standards and pursue even more aggressive greenhouse gas regulations.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must lead the development of new long-term multi-pollutant standards that will help put the nation on a trajectory to make all new cars and light-duty trucks zero-emission vehicles no later than 2035, that
Includes a 2030 standard that achieves fleet average emissions 60 percent or more below today’s average
The Trump administration repealed California’s waiver for greenhouse gases and drastically scaled back Obama-era standards for fuel economy cars. The letter wants the President to restore that waiver. After the Trump measure, the Newsom administration took action on their own with the California Air Resources Board and worked out a agreement with automakers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light trucks 3.7 percent annually. That agreement is voluntary and not as strict as the 5 percent reduction imposed by the Obama administration.
President Trump’s environmental rules are being investigated, under a Biden executive order.
It’s not known if President Biden will use the Californian standard or return to the Obama era metrics.
“It is now time to restore the Obama-Biden standards and go even further,” reads the letter.
“EPA should adopt standards for durable reductions in oxides of nitrogen, particulate matter, and greenhouse gases that are consistent with 100 percent zero emission vehicle sales no later than 2040,” they wrote. “All new urban delivery, school and transit buses should be zero-emissions by 2035.”
Electric Black Car charging at an Electric petrol charging station – E-Mobility
The full text of the letter:
February 25th, 2021
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
United States of America,
Washington, D.C.
Subject: Working Together on Strong Vehicle Standards to Boost the Economy, Create Jobs and Protect Health
Dear President Biden:
On behalf of the millions of members of our organizations, we thank you for your visionary climate leadership, your dedication to creating jobs here in the U.S, and protecting communities on the front lines of air pollution and climate change.
America’s transportation sector is the leading source of the carbon pollution driving dangerous climate events, and a primary contributor to air pollution that threatens public health, especially in communities of color most impacted by the devastating COVID-19 pandemic.
We applaud your Day One executive order to revisit the Trump administration’s rollback of the clean car standards through model year 2025 and its illegal preemption of California emission standards, as this is a key first step in addressing transportation emissions. We urge the administration to next act quickly to reinstate California’s waiver and restore national standards at least to levels set during the Obama-Biden administration. The Obama-Biden standards set in 2012 were and are achievable. In 2017, President Trump gutted those standards; while the California-automaker deal in 2020 put us partially back on the pathway, it is now time to restore the Obama-Biden standards and go even further.
New long-term clean car standards, which build on the legacy of these interim standards, are also critical to realize your vision of full vehicle electrification that eliminates tailpipe pollution while securing and growing high road auto sector jobs and manufacturing, ensuring pocketbook and health gains for families as well as frontline communities struggling with pollution from roadways.
We therefore further request that you immediately direct the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to lead the development of new long-term multi-pollutant standards that will help put the nation on a trajectory to make all new cars and light-duty trucks zero-emission vehicles no later than 2035, including a 2030 standard that achieves fleet average emissions 60% or more below today’s average. 1
In addition, the administration should take immediate action on medium and heavy-duty vehicles. Across the U.S., health-threatening air pollution is concentrated in low-income communities and communities of color. Ambitious standards that drive electrification for medium and heavy-duty vehicles are essential for protecting health in communities adjacent to highways, ports, warehouses, and freight corridors.
1 At least a 60 percent reduction is achievable while assuming that the standards include upstream emissions from electricity or hydrogen production, transmission, distribution and charging or fueling for plug-in electric and fuel cell electric vehicles. Removing upstream emissions from compliance would require a more stringent standard level. We also assume that credit multipliers are not extended past 2021 and that off-cycle credits are capped at 10 g/mi.
EPA should adopt standards for durable reductions in oxides of nitrogen, particulate matter, and greenhouse gases that are consistent with 100 percent zero emission vehicle sales no later than 2040.
All new urban delivery, school and transit buses should be zero-emissions by 2035. Near-term EPA standards should provide pollution reductions consistent with the reductions that states are seeking through California’s recent Heavy-Duty Omnibus and Advanced Clean Trucks rules.
Strong vehicle standards will spur the creation of high-quality domestic jobs if complementary steps are taken to ensure that zero-emission vehicles and their parts are made by U.S. workers to the maximum extent possible. These supporting policies will require sustained and coordinated efforts at every level of government and with a myriad of stakeholders. Your Buy America executive order will help drive these investments. We request that you also support incentives to develop and produce zero-emission vehicle technologies in the U.S., helping to promote good paying jobs here. Electric vehicle demand is growing globally, and China and Europe are investing heavily to be the world’s suppliers of batteries and other zero-emission vehicle parts. With swift action, the U.S. can scale up and become a global electric vehicle production powerhouse.
Thank you for your leadership in growing the economy, protecting people’s health, and avoiding the ravages of the climate crisis. We are excited to work with you on all these initiatives to achieve our shared goals of meeting the demands of science while investing in the U.S. workforce.
Sincerely,
Mitchell S. Bernard, Interim President & Chief Counsel
Helpful science tips in playful videos that explain principles we all deal with to understand our climate crisis. The series is the creation of Olivia Baaten.
