Subject: I oppose EPA-HQ_OAR-2018-0283 and EPA-HQ-OAR-2017-0355
Dear Acting Administrator Wheeler:
I am writing to express my opposition to the proposed rules, the Safe Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicle Rule for Model Years 2021-2026 Passenger Cars and Light Trucks (EPA-HQ_OAR-2018-0283) and the Affordable Clean Energy Rule (EPA-HQ-OAR-2017-0355).
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As you know, the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint–the historic federal and state partnership–set a cap on Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) from air deposition to 15.7 million pounds for the Chesapeake Bay. Excess nitrogen leads to algae blooms which, when they decompose, create dead zones where no aquatic life can survive. A crucial piece to meeting these requirements is the full implementation of the current (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) CAFE standards and the Clean Power Plan. Both the CAFE standards and the Clean Power Plan would have resulted in significant emissions reductions from the automobile and fossil fuel industry, respectively.
EPA's SAFE proposal would freeze CAFE standards at the 2020 levels through 2026. This would mean no new reduction requirements for at least six years! ACE replaces the Clean Power Plan that set the first-ever limits on carbon pollution from U.S. Power plants. The CPP would have resulted in significant reductions of greenhouse gas emissions as well as Bay-polluting NOx. ACE is a significantly weaker program and falls short of what is needed to manage these pollutants.
These proposed rules
weaken Clean Air Act programs, and if finalized, will result in greater amounts of NOx air emissions entering the Bay watershed and will ultimately impede the progress and success of the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint. These proposals will also worsen the impacts of climate change–from which the Bay is already suffering–and have devastating health-related consequences, particularly for children and the elderly.
Simply stated, these proposed rollbacks are bad for our climate, bad for our health, and bad for the Bay. I urge you to withdraw these proposals.
Sincerely,
[Your name]