Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association Lawsuit Letter

Updated - Stop Stalling Critical Clean, Zero-Emission Truck Standards

Thank you for your consideration of our previous letter addressed to members of the Truck and Engine Manufacturers Association (EMA), regarding the lawsuit the EMA has filed against the California Air Resources Board (CARB) on California's life-saving clean truck regulation, the Heavy-Duty Omnibus rule. We are now updating and expanding this letter to include stakeholders from across the country that have asked to be added as signatories due to the disappointing response sent by EMA President Jed Mendel on July 8, 2022. 

We cannot evade the stark reality that 137 million Americans live in counties with harmful levels of air pollution. The false luxury of leadtime has long been lost, with decades spent instead on a series of actions by EMA to vigorously oppose and delay critical regulations that will improve health and quality of life for millions of people. In four years, it’s estimated we will have lost over 400,000 lives, disproportionately made up of racially and ethnically diverse minorities, to the direct effects of air pollution. With lives at stake, we ask that you follow the actions of some of your fellow EMA members, Cummins, Ford, GM and Honda and publicly separate yourself from the EMA lawsuit against the California Air Resources Board (CARB), as well as the harmful EMA lobbying and disinformation campaigns designed to slow or stall the transition to cleaner trucks. Remaining silent is equivalent to endorsing EMA’s efforts to strike down critical regulations that will save lives in the most polluted communities. 

We are disturbed that EMA, in your name, is engaging in legal and political lobbying against rules that will save lives, prevent hospitalizations, and create billions of dollars in health benefits. The EMA’s lawsuit is a thinly-veiled delay tactic designed to slow the transition to cleaner trucks,  prioritizing convenience and profit over lives. This is in addition to EMA’s recent testimonies respectively attacking the speedy adoption of the proposed EPA NOx emissions standards and California state waivers as well as the California state Advanced Clean Trucks rule. Accompanying these efforts is a campaign called “CleanTruckFacts,” which condescends to the public - your valued customers - and attempts to mislead them into supporting weaker regulations.  

Opposing vehicle emission standards is self-defeating if manufacturers really want to clean up their act. Adoption of foundational emission standards like the Heavy Duty Omnibus, the Advanced Clean Truck rule and a strong national heavy-duty vehicle emissions rule unlock additional policies and resources to help transition to zero-emission vehicles across the country. Diesel-powered trucks are a dirty fixture in our nation’s neighborhoods, spewing pollution near our homes, schools, and places of recreation. We need strong clean truck standards to help deliver vital relief that the most highly impacted communities demand and deserve. EMA's efforts to fight these life-saving policies are a direct attack on these communities’ right to a clean air future. 

We want to believe that zeroing out emissions from your vehicles is important to your companies and shareholders. Your press statements and social media feeds are full of supportive messages about your commitment to cleaner transportation, but the actions of the EMA lay in glaring contrast. It’s time for these signaled commitments to become concrete action - please publicly distance yourself from the EMA lawsuit and the EMA’s testimonies on the respective proposed rules by the EPA on NOx standards and the California waivers as well as California state on the Advanced Clean Trucks rule. We are watching closely and look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

• California Environmental Voters

• California Interfaith Power & Light

• Center for Biological Diversity

• Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice

• Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT)

• Central California Asthma Collaborative 

• Coalition For A Safe Environment

• Coalition for Clean Air

• Connecticut Citizen Action Group (CCAG)

• Connecticut League of Conservation Voters

• Connecticut Roundtable on Climate and Jobs

• Earthjustice

• Eastern CT Green Action 

• Elders Climate Action

• GreenLatinos

• Illinois Environmental Council

• Interfaith Power & Light 

• International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) 569

• League of Conservation Voters

• Let's Green CA!

• Little Village Environmental Justice Organization

• Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy

• Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)

• People’s Collective for Environmental Justice

• Plug In America

• Prosperity Works

• Public Citizen

• SanDiego350

• Sierra Club 

• Southern Alliance for Clean Energy

• Southern Environmental Law Center

• Stand.earth

• The Greenlining Institute

• Union of Concerned Scientists