A coalition of Colorado environmental groups filed a petition to the Air Quality Control Commission asking them to end rules for cleaner trucks by the close of the year. They claim that they are causing harm to Colorado residents through a series delays in cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
The AQCC should instruct staff at the Air Pollution Control Division in 2022 to complete rules requiring dealers to sell a specific percentage of cleaner trucks. Otherwise, a delay to 2023 could put off sales of cleaner vehicles until at least 2020, according to the group which includes the Sierra Club and Colorado GreenLatinos as well as Western Resource Advocates, Boulder County, and NAACP Denver.
Colorado’s Indigenous and Black families and neighborhoods suffer the most from the harmful effects of dirty trucks running and idling close to homes and businesses. Wendy Howell from the Colorado Working Families Party said that cleaning up truck pollution is a good policy for both environmental and economic justice. It is unacceptable to delay.
Officials at stait said that work on the so-called Advanced Clean Trucks Strategy would begin in this year.
This rulemaking and any other rulemaking are our highest priority. As stated in our Clean Trucking StrategyThe beginning of a rulemaking process to allow Advanced Clean Trucks to be built in late 2022 is the same, according the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
Contrary to petitioners’ claims the Polis Administration has acted quickly and aggressively to promote a bold climate change agenda, according to the CDPHE statement.
The petitioners cite recently established federal and state laws which require that environmental justice provisions be included in new pollution restrictions or industrial permitting. They say a series of delays by the state in finishing rules on cleaner commuting for large employers, and requiring emissions cuts by heavy industry, are also an affront to those environmental-justice provisions.
The petition also provides detailed arguments about why truck and other industrial pollutants are more prevalent in North Denver than elsewhere in the state. The petition stated that North Denver is bounded by interstates 70, 75, and 270. Living near major roads increases the risk for asthma and reduced lung function. This can lead to childhood asthma, cardiovascular death, and increased risk of developing it.
It states that truck emissions account for 30% of (nitrogen oxide and 40% of (particulate material) emissions in Colorado, even though they make up less than 10%. According to the petitioners, Elyria Swansea is North Denver’s most polluted area, according to studies by ZIP code. These neighborhoods are also impacted heavily by heavy pollution industry, such as the Suncor Energy refinery or Xcels Cherokee power plant.
The petition stated that North Denver residents have the highest rates of diabetes, heart disease, and asthma in the metropolitan area. However, they also have less access to healthcare.
Recent successes have allowed the environmental justice coalition to draw on their experience. After the commission had rejected tougher rules, a similar group forced December’s state Water Quality Control Commission into reconsidering stronger protections for urban streams.
Officials in the state say they have completed rulemaking and major policy changes in areas such as emissions from oil activity and electric vehicles. They also closed coal-fired power plants.
The effort to strengthen the environmental justice overlay for state pollution policies is still in progress. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sent a letter to state health officials late Friday, notifying them that federal agency’s civil rights office is currently reviewing local environmental justice efforts.
The EPA letter acknowledges that Colorado lawmakers passed House Bill 1266 last ye, the Environmental Justice Act. This law mandates additional pollution cuts, such as 20% for industrial sectors, and creates a position of justice ombudsman. The letter states that the EPA General Counsels External Civil Rights Compliance Office will conduct periodic compliance reviews on recipients of EPA financial support in accordance to the EPAs nondiscrimination regulations.
As part of ECRCO’s national responsibilities, the civil rights office will conduct a compliance review of CDPHE. ECRCO is interested and able to work with CDPHE to ensure that CDPHE’s administration of its air program, including the impact of the program in North Denver on the environment, conforms with civil rights laws, according the letter.
In a statement, state officials said that they understood the EPA was looking into the letter. . . We believe compliance across the nation will be achieved and that Colorado, like all other states, will benefit.
CDPHE acknowledged that Colorado is a leader in environmental justice issues and we look forward working with EPA to review the matter and develop a national model to ensure compliance with civil rights laws.
