New York Leads 3-States Seeking Tighter Truck Pollution Controls - Attorney General

NEW YORK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th November, 2021) A tri-state coalition in the Northeastern United States is urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to toughen pollution limits on heavy-duty trucks to relieve the region from smog, New York Attorney Letitia James said.

"In a letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan and National Climate Adviser Gina McCarthy, the attorneys general urged the EPA to act quickly to propose stronger standards for emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from new on-road heavy-duty trucks and engines for model year 2027 and beyond," James said in a press release on Tuesday.

The EPA has long recognized the serious public health and environmental harms caused by NOx emissions. NOx combines in the atmosphere with volatile organic compounds in the presence of heat and sunlight to form smog.

As climate change causes warmer temperatures, smog formation will only worsen, the release said

Even though New York, Connecticut and New Jersey have implemented some of the most stringent control programs for NOx in the nation, the impact is limited due to the presence of heavy-duty trucks from other states, the release said.

In New York state alone, nearly 12.5 million residents - about two thirds of the population - breath air with unhealthy levels of smog, the release added.

The release also cited a recent report by the American Lung Association saying that millions of New Yorkers with lung disease - including 380,000 children and over 1,600,000 adults suffering from asthma - are at special risk to the harmful effects of smog.