Research consistently shows that Black communities are disproportionately exposed to diesel exhaust and other traffic-related pollution. So when Biden-era crackdowns on diesel emissions were scheduled to take effect, Black neighborhoods near freeways or industrial corridors anticipated breathing easier.
But a new move by the Environmental Protection Agency could mean the air in those communities could get worse — and soon.
The Trump administration has proposed delaying and revising portions of diesel emissions regulations adopted under President Joe Biden, calling the regulations “unnecessary and unworkable.” Originally announced in 2023 and set to take effect this year, the regulations would have required trucks and other diesel engines to use more advanced emissions-reducing technology.
No data on health
In a statement last month, the EPA said the changes will save truckers about $12 billion, including up to $6,152 per diesel engine subject to the regulations. American consumers and households also would benefit, according to the statement.
“Collectively, these savings will be passed on to American families through lower costs for food, household goods, and other products trucks deliver, while still maintaining strong environmental protections and ensuring clean air,” the statement said.
The agency did not calculate how the changes would affect human health.
Under Biden, the EPA estimated that 72 million people lived within a mile of a truck freight route, increasing their exposure to unhealthy air. The study found that Black people and those with lower incomes were more likely to live in these areas.
Although semi-trucks, buses and other heavy-duty vehicles make up only a small share of vehicles on U.S. roads, their larger, often diesel-powered engines produce a disproportionate share of transportation-related pollution. Heavy-duty vehicles account for 45% of smog-forming nitrogen oxides emitted by the transportation sector, pollution the Biden administration sought to reduce through its clean truck standards.
Environmental groups were quick to argue that revising the regulations would harm public health.
“Clean truck standards save lives,” Katherine García, director of the Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign, said in a statement. “Weakening them would mean more toxic pollution in the air and more families paying the price with their health.”
Black communities hurt most
There’s a substantial body of research showing that emissions from trucking and other heavy-duty vehicles are particularly harmful to Black families.
A 2019 report by the Union of Concerned Scientists found that people of color living in the Northeast were exposed to 66% more vehicle pollution — including a disproportionate share emitted by a relatively small number of heavy-duty vehicles — than white residents.
The higher levels of exposure are part of the legacy of redlining, which clustered Black households in less desirable parts of cities. That included neighborhoods developed near factories, freeways and industrial corridors.
Environmental groups opposing the proposal also argued that advances in engine technology are making it substantially easier to reduce emissions from heavy-duty fleets.
Peter Zalzal, associate vice president for the Environmental Defense Fund, said in a statement that diesel engines “emit huge amounts of smog- and soot-forming pollution into the air we breathe.” But vehicle manufacturers, he said, “are already introducing new engines that can substantially cut this pollution and meet protective standards.”
The EPA “should abandon this proposal and instead maintain strong pollution safeguards for new heavy-duty vehicles,” Zalzal said.