Anyone who has experienced a red air day knows the metallic taste of air pollution that leaves a sting in your nose and lungs. On red air days when pollution hits unhealthy levels people are advised to stay inside and avoid outdoor activities especially the elderly, children, pregnant women, and those who suffer from respiratory illnesses.
Now, guess what is the leading cause of toxic air in most places?
Internal combustion engines fueled by gas or diesel are spewing dirty pollution into our lungs and atmosphere. More than two thirds of Americans rely on personal automobiles for day-to-day travel. And transportation is now the United States’ largest source of the greenhouse gas emissions accelerating climate change, with light-duty vehicles alone responsible for nearly 60% of that sector’s climate pollution.
Tackling our pervasive air pollution problem requires cutting tailpipe pollution from the cars we drive. Fortunately, we have a proven tool to make vehicles cleaner so we can all breathe easier: tailpipe emissions standards.
Last week the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency pulled this tool out of the clean air toolbox. The EPA made history by adopting new multi-pollutant rules for light-duty and smaller medium-duty vehicles limiting tailpipe pollution that poisons the air we breathe and accelerates climate change. These updated standards compel automakers to adopt the latest clean technologies to ensure new vehicles will be cleaner than ever before.
Everyone, everywhere should have the choice to make their next car a clean car. Americans who care about reducing pollution deserve the choice to drive electric.
Polluters Want You to Loathe the EPA’s Limits on Pollution
Air pollution harms 36 percent of the U.S. population—or nearly 120 million people. According to the American Lung Association, more than 1 in 3 Americans live in places with unhealthy levels of air pollution, which affects lung development in children and can cause emphysema, asthma, chronic bronchitis, and other respiratory diseases. People of color and lower-income individuals are disproportionately impacted by air pollution.
Anyone who likes breathing cleaner air should celebrate this moment. But corporations that profit from selling the vehicles that pollutes our air and the petroleum that burns a hole in our wallets view these standards as a threat. They say these standards threaten American freedoms and consumer choice.
But the truth is that these updated pollution limits are long overdue and will benefit all Americans by cleaning the air we breathe and giving consumers the choice to get off the expensive fossil fuel rollercoaster.
Consider the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers’ launch of a “major seven-figure issue campaign across seven critical states—Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada, Arizona, Ohio and Montana—and the Beltway, all aimed at informing Americans about the Biden administration’s efforts to ban new gas, diesel and flex fuel vehicles from the U.S. market.”
In other words, profit-driven corporate polluters responded to the EPA’s updated tailpipe emissions standards by actively manipulating the American public into thinking the standards are unwarranted. Their public disinformation campaign wants people to think the rules are a ban on gas cars.
That is simply false. By law, the EPA does not and cannot ban technologies or modes of transportation. The EPA’s standards are technology-neutral, performance-based, and informed by science and peer-reviewed research.
The Clean Air Act, signed into law in 1970, authorizes and directs the EPA to establish National Ambient Air Quality Standards to protect public health and welfare, to regulate hazardous air pollutant emissions. The Clean Air Act also directs the EPA to regulate emissions from vehicles and engines, and to adapt the standard over time.
The earliest standards for light-duty vehicles required a 90 percent reduction in emissions from hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, and carbon monoxide—which drove the development of new engine and emission control technologies, such as the catalytic converter, and a switch to unleaded fuel.
Before the Clean Air Act was signed, our cities choked on air pollution so thick that breathing New York City’s air was as bad as smoking two packs of cigarettes per day, and Los Angeles suffered through unhealthy levels of air pollution more than 200 days a year.
50 years later, our air is far cleaner. But despite decades of progress in reducing harmful emissions, air pollution from motor vehicles continues to harm public health, welfare, and the environment. Gas-powered vehicles will always belch ozone, climate pollution, particulate matter, and other toxic chemicals into our air.
These same corporate polluters who are fighting the EPA’s clean air action today have fought against clean air for decades, all for the same reason – profit.
The EPA’s updated standards help level the playing field for more advanced technologies, like battery electric vehicles, to compete in the market. They signal to the auto industry that now is the time to capitalize on fast-falling EV battery costs to deliver more affordable clean vehicle options for all consumers.
Most importantly, the EPA’s rules fix market failures that have allowed corporate fossil fuel profiteers to dump pollution and rising fuel costs on the American public, contaminating the air we breathe while compromising our health and the stability of the climate.
Better Tailpipe Pollution Standards Mean Better Quality of Life
By setting responsible limits on tailpipe pollution the EPA’s updated standards put the U.S. on a new trajectory for cleaner air, better health, and a stable climate. These rules also mean more affordable clean vehicle models on the road for decades to come, saving consumers money every year over the vehicles’ lifetimes. Today, EV models are cheaper to fill than gas vehicles in every state, putting money back in people’s wallets with every trip they take
The EPA’s final rule adopts more stringent emissions standards for criteria pollutants and greenhouse gases for model years 2027-2032 for light-duty vehicles (passenger vehicles), as well as Class 2b and 3 medium-duty vehicles (classes are based on the gross vehicle weight rating; a Ford F-250 is a class 2b vehicle, whereas a Ford F-350 is a class 3 vehicles).
According to the EPA’s estimates, the rules will:
- Reduce harmful air pollutants to the tune of 8,700 tons of particulate matter, 36,000 tons of nitrogen oxides, and 150,000 tons of volatile organic compounds in 2055. These pollutants contribute to smog, soot, and bad air days.
- Provide $13 billion in annual health benefits.
- Reduce approximately 7.2 billion metric tons in net transportation sector CO2 emissions between 2027 and 2055 (the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions at 29 percent of our overall total).
- Provide regulatory incentives for vehicle manufacturers to produce engines that emit fewer harmful pollutants, helping more people choose cleaner cars.
- Increase zero-emission battery electric vehicle sales over time, ranging from 26% of all new vehicle sales in 2027 to 56% in 2032
- Provide $99 billion in annualized net benefits to society through the year 2055; this includes $46 billion in reduced annual fuel costs and nearly $16 billion in reduced maintenance and repair costs for drivers.
- Save consumers an average of $6,000 over the lifetime of a new clean vehicle.
- Expand consumer choice for American drivers.
Strong Standards Plus New Incentives Will Clean the Air for Generations to Come
The EPA’s updated standards combined with new clean vehicle incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act and new funding in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law are poised to transform the way we get around. Tax incentives and new funding for vehicles, infrastructure, manufacturing, and the entire clean vehicle supply chain can propel the U.S. toward a transportation transformation.
As it has done for the past 50 years, the EPA is improving air quality. These updated standards reflect significant investments in clean vehicle technologies that the auto industry is already making, and they support growing consumer demand for clean air and a climate safe future.
In time, the updated standards could leave toxic red air days in the rearview mirror – something that will help us all breathe easier.
