On September 6, LCV Legislative Representative Sara Jordan testified before the EPA, voicing strong opposition to any attempts to weaken the clean car standards put in place by the Obama administration.  As Sara, a Texas-native, highlighted in her testimony, reducing carbon pollution from the transportation sector—our country’s largest source of this pollution—is critical to fighting climate change. And as we watch the horrifying dangers of climate change come to life as devastating hurricanes and wildfires, these standards are more important than ever.  These standards are about our future.

Read Sara’s full testimony below:

Testimony of
Sara Jordan, Legislative Representative, League of Conservation Voters
on
September 6, 2017
for
Mid-term Evaluation Hearing
Docket Identification No. EPA-HQ- OAR-2015-0827

My name is Sara Jordan and I was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas and now reside in Washington, D.C. I am speaking today as a concerned citizen and as the legislative representative for the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), and I am here today to speak out in opposition to any attempt by the Trump Administration to weaken the clean car standards. 

LCV has more than 2 million members across the country and our mission is to turn environmental values into national, state, and local priorities. We work to advance these goals in close partnership with nearly 30 state partners. 

Thanks to EPA for the opportunity to comment on these important standards. Reducing carbon pollution from the transportation sector – the single largest source of such pollution in the United States – is a critical step we need to take to protect our children from the worst impacts of climate change. 

The clean car standards were created in collaboration with the automakers, and they were supported by unions, national security groups, and environmentalists. 

These common-sense standards are doing exactly what they were designed to do: protect consumers, protect our health and climate, and reduce our oil consumption. 

Duplicating the midterm evaluation of vehicle efficiency and carbon pollution standards is unnecessary and the inclusion of model year 2021 is completely beyond the reach of this review. 

Less than a year ago, EPA issued its final determination that these standards out to 2025 are achievable, affordable and would remain in place. This decision was based on thousands of hours of research, gathering of data, and stakeholder input. Nothing in the last 10 months has happened to change this finding. In fact, as we witness record hurricanes pummeling the South and raging wildfires ravaging the West, the dangers of climate change and the importance of keeping these standards in place has never been more clear. And the vast majority of Americans agree. 

Hundreds of thousands of public comments have already been submitted to the EPA in support of the current standards, and the decision to weaken these standards is out of step with 87 percent of Americans who agree automakers should continue to improve fuel efficiency. 

The existing standards are set to reduce climate pollution by as much as 6 billion metric tons over the lifetime of the vehicles – the equivalent to carbon pollution from 150 coal-fired power plants for an entire year. 

As we witness the devastating impacts of climate change wreak havoc on our families and communities, the Trump administration is taking every opportunity to eliminate and weaken the tools we have to combat it—including attempting to weaken the clean car standards. And as someone who grew up in Texas, Hurricane Harvey is a painful reminder of what’s at stake if President Trump continues to willfully ignore this grave threat. 

Weakening the clean car standards reflects this administration’s steadfast decision to prioritize polluters over the health and well-being of our families. And it is clear that the biggest beneficiaries of rolling back these commonsense, widely popular standards will be big oil companies – not the American people.

Our families, our health, our environment, and our future are counting on these standards.

I strongly urge the EPA to not weaken the clean car standards. Doing so would threaten our health and our communities, and the cost to American families is one we can’t afford.