A doctor and lung expert argued New York’s air quality will worsen from proposed Environmental Protection Agency rollbacks.
The agency plans to remove certain standards on heavy-duty vehicles like semitrucks, buses, garbage trucks and more beginning with the 2027 model year. The Trump administration said this will save the industry up to $12 billion.
Dr. Payel Gupta, a spokesperson for the American Lung Association, stressed there is a greater cost on human health.
“The mixture of emissions trucks release has been linked to poor birth outcomes, reduced lung and cognitive development, and worsening of chronic respiratory and cardiovascular diseases,” Gupta outlined.
While the administration and lobbying groups like the American Trucking Association tout this as a cost-saving measure, the trucking industry made $906 billion in 2024.
Meanwhile, 21 of the 23 counties reporting air quality data in New York State ranked poorly in the American Lung Association’s State of the Air report and it has worsened in recent years due to growing air pollution and smoke from Canadian wildfires.
Data show putting more clean vehicles on the road can improve New York’s air quality. The International Council on Clean Transportation finds air pollution from gas vehicles caused more than 3,200 premature deaths in the state and 2,700 new child asthma cases.
Gupta believes the EPA should maintain the current standards established in 2022, given their proven benefits.
“The rule is estimated to reduce those oxides in nitrogen emissions from diesel-powered vehicles by 14% in 2030, by 44% in 2040, and 48% by 2045,” Gupta explained.
The council noted if the U.S. reaches 100% market share for electric vehicles by 2040, it would lead to major reductions in air pollution, along with preventing 8,800 deaths in New York by 2050.
Edwin is a reporter and producer in North Tonawanda, New York. He’s previously reported for the Niagara Gazette and the Ithaca Times. Edwin got an early start in radio interning for WBFO-88.7FM, NPR’s Buffalo affiliate. In 2018, he graduated from SUNY Buffalo State College with a B.A. in Journalism, and in 2022, graduated from Syracuse University with an M.S. in Communications.