Tell EPA to NOT Make Big Trucks MORE Polluting!

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Document: EPA-HQ-OAR-2026-0728-0114

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Dear EPA Administrator Zeldin,

I write to you to ask that the EPA retain current pollution control requirements already in place for heavy-duty diesel trucks and to not roll back health protections that now prevent dangerous and deadly tailpipe pollution from large trucks in my community.  Keeping current health protections in place is essential to protecting air quality gains made in recent years. This includes strong warranty requirements for pollution control equipment on new trucks and enforcement mechanisms that guard against people damaging or disabling pollution controls,

My health is being threatened by your proposed action that would allow more dangerous diesel exhaust in the air I breathe. Diesel tailpipe pollution is already linked to more than 8,400 premature deaths, 497,000 missed workdays, and $93.9 billion in health- related costs nationwide each year. Diesel engine exhaust pollution is a well-documented asthma trigger and is associated with higher rates of respiratory hospitalization, stroke, heart attack, and lung cancer.  In Illinois alone an estimated 5 to 6 residents’ lives are cut short by vehicle pollution every day. Vehicle pollution causes more than 1,900 premature deaths and 1,200 new pediatric asthma cases in the state each year, largely tied to the production and burning of gasoline and diesel. A Northwestern University study found that removing just 30% of polluting trucks from the Chicago area could save more than 600 lives per year.

I urge you to keep the air pollution health safeguards in place that keep the air I breathe clean and protect my lungs.  Don’t allow trucks to become dirtier and more polluting.

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Summary

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed weakening tailpipe pollution standards for heavy-duty diesel trucks set in 2024. Rolling back these protections would threaten years of progress on clean air and damage your lungs. The EPA set strict tailpipe pollution standards for new diesel trucks beginning in 2027, requiring them to run as clean as possible and meet those standards for longer. Under current leadership, the agency is now proposing to roll back several of those protections. Diesel trucks make up just 7% of vehicles on Illinois roads, but they are responsible for two-thirds of smog pollution and nearly 60% of the deadly fine particle soot produced by vehicles statewide.  The rollback under consideration would: <ul> <li>Cut pollution control warranties from 425,000 miles to just 100,000 miles, down to roughly one year of use for a typical heavy duty truck.</li> <li>Shorten durability requirements. Current law requires pollution controls to last 650,000 miles, about six years. The EPA is proposing to cut that by at least a third, delay enforcement for at least three years, and is weighing eliminating the requirement altogether.</li> <li>Loosen repair enforcement. Trucks with broken pollution controls currently cannot fully operate until repairs are made. Under the new proposal, a dashboard warning light would be the only requirement, allowing polluting trucks to keep running for months before being fixed.</li> </ul> Please fill out the information below to send your comment to the EPA and tell them you do NOT support their efforts to add more diesel truck pollution to the air you breathe.

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