HYANNIS – The American Lung Association has outlined what they claim are multiple benefits if the country were to transition to zero emission vehicles over the next three decades.
Laura Kate Bender, National Assistant Vice President for Healthy Air at the American Lung Association (ALA), spoke about the organization’s ‘Zeroing in on Healthy Air’ report and the positive outcomes that could come from a nationwide switch to clean energy and electric vehicles (EVs).
Bender said the U.S. would see 110,000 avoided deaths, 2.79 million avoided asthma attacks, and 13.4 million lost days of work from 2020 to 2050.
From an economic standpoint, those benefits represent $1.2 trillion in health benefits across the country.
“The benefits are enormous, and we know over the long history of clean air act protections that the benefits consistently dramatically outweigh the cost of cleaning up pollution,” she said.
The ALA official highlighted that breathing clean air is an issue tied to both public health and climate change.
Bender claims that pollution from power plants, vehicles, and the emissions created from extracting fuel sources all lead to warming temperatures, one effect of which is more wildfires and the hazardous smoke they create.
The ALA’s report is based off a scenario in which all new passenger vehicles sold in the U.S. would be zero emission by 2035, medium-duty and heavy-duty vehicles would be zero emission by 2040, and the U.S.’ electric grid would be powered by wind and solar by 2035.
Bender noted there have been signs of progress recently on the transition to cleaner air, including the federal government considering a proposal from the EPA that would require heavy trucks cutting their nitrogen oxide emissions and new stronger fuel economy standards for cars.
“States across the country are opting into strong standards, not just to clean up cars but also to clean up trucks, so there are a lot of points of progress,” Bender said.
Click here to check out the full Zeroing in on Health Air report.
Listen to the full Sunday Journal with Laura Kate Bender.
By Brian Engles, CapeCod.com NewsCenter
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