Tailpipe pollution causes up to 200,000 early deaths and triggers millions of asthma attacks every year.
Toxic pollution from cars and trucks is making it harder for our communities to breathe and triggering thousands of asthma attacks.
We need our leaders to stand up for clean air!
On this World Asthma Day we are reminded that far too many communities across Illinois do not have breathable air because of toxic vehicle pollution.
Luckily, state leaders across the country have taken action to adopt a clear roadmap to cutting deadly car and truck pollution with the Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) and Advanced Clean Cars II (ACCII) programs. But now, these life-saving clean vehicle programs are under attack by corporate polluters.
We need our leaders to stand up for clean air!
Instead of working together to build a healthier future, corporate polluters are squandering resources—millions of dollars—on misinformation campaigns and lobbying efforts designed to delay action and allow them to keep polluting our air. We deserve clean air. We do not have the luxury of waiting to address the devastating effects of transportation pollution that are only getting worse under the Trump administration.
Just last week the House of Representatives, for the first time in over 50 years, passed Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolutions to undermine California’s Clean Air Act authority to adopt vehicle standards. The standards that these resolutions attack are vital to reducing air pollution, such as fine particulate matter and smog, that causes deaths and serious health harms. They also will save people in California as well as the 11 other states (and the District of Columbia) that have adopted the standards hundreds of billions of dollars through 2050 in reduced fuel, maintenance and repair costs.
Clean air and economic benefits of the ACT
Illinois rounds out the top 10 states for EV investments and jobs in the U.S. with close to $10B in investments and over 11,000 jobs since 2015. If we want to maximize all the benefits the EV transition will produce, Gov. Pritzker needs to adopt the Advanced Clean Trucks rule and complementary policies for light-duty vehicles.
The ACT is the most powerful tool to incentivize manufacturers in the state to sell their EV trucks to Illinois businesses and fleets. If Gov. Pritzker doesn’t adopt the ACT, we’ll export not just Illinois-made EVs, but also the cleaner air produced by every electric truck to states like California that have already adopted it and make up the majority of deployments.
Why the urgency?
Despite making up less than 10% of on-road transport, medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, such as delivery vans, transit buses and large tractor-trailers, are responsible for 67% of nitrogen oxide and 59% of particulate matter in the state. This toxic mix of pollution contributes to negative health outcomes like asthma and heart attacks.
Adopting the ACT sets us on a path to approximately 50% of medium and heavy-duty vehicles on Illinois roads being zero-emission by 2050. That change could avoid around 500 deaths and about 600 new cases of childhood asthma every year across the Chicago Metropolitan Area.
Electrifying cars and trucks can reduce dangerous pollution and save hundreds of lives, but only if they’re actually deployed on Illinois streets.
Paid for by Environmental Defense Fund