My family has lived in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood for years, squeezed between highways, truck routes and industrial corridors. As a nurse and member of Illinois Clinicians for Climate Action (ICCA), I’ve spoken publicly about what school nurses there see firsthand: kids whose asthma flares up just from their walk to class, missed school days, parents missing work to sit in an emergency room. This isn’t abstract for me — it’s real life in my family’s neighborhood.
Heavy-duty truck and engine manufacturers have known about the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s nitrogen oxide standards since 2022 and have already started to build compliant engines. Now some are lobbying to delay or weaken enforcement instead of honoring that commitment, and neighborhoods like Pilsen absorb the impact.
Clean transportation is an upstream investment in health, not just an emissions target. A bus that runs clean means a child at the bus stop breathes easier today, not decades from now.
Manufacturers should be held to the standards they are already obligated to meet. The EPA shouldn’t let industry renegotiate at the expense of my neighbors’ health.