WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Cory Booker and Congresswoman Nanette Diaz Barragán led 48 of their colleagues in encouraging the Environmental Protection Agency to update technology standards for freight-related sources of pollution to address the high levels of air pollution in communities surrounding our nation’s freight shipping facilities and freight transportation corridors.

In a letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan, Booker, Barragán and their colleagues also requested information regarding EPA’s regulatory schedule for updating freight-related emissions standards, technology assessments for mobile and non-mobile freight sources, and opportunities available to streamline rulemaking to update several emissions standards by 2025.

“We appreciate the EPA’s demonstrated commitment to combatting environmental racism and advancing equal access to clean air, land and water. We specifically applaud the steps the EPA has taken to set criteria pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions standards for medium- and heavy-duty trucks. We encourage you to expand these efforts to include other freight sources, including locomotives, ocean-going vessels, and aircraft,” the members of Congress wrote.

In the 10-20 years since the EPA has updated emissions standards for mobile and non-mobile freight-related emissions sources, new control technologies have become available, including zero-emissions and electric options. There are significant opportunities for reducing toxic air pollution in environmental justice communities while addressing the climate crisis.

Senator Booker and Congresswoman Barragán were joined on the letter by Senators Richard Durbin (Ill.), Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Edward J. Markey (Mass.), Christopher Murphy (Conn.), Alex Padilla (Calif.), Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Bernard Sanders (Vt.), and Congressmembers Alan Lowenthal (Calif.), Adriano Espaillat (N.Y.), Emmanuel Cleaver (Mo.), Yvette Clarke (N.Y.), Bobby Rush (Ill.), Suzanne Bonamici (Ore.), Grace Napolitano (Calif.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.), Earl Blumenauer (Ore.), Doris Matsui (Calif.), Barbara Lee (Calif.), Karen Bass (Calif.), Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), Jimmy Gomez (Calif.), Sean Casten (Ill.), Jared Huffman (Calif.), Frederica Wilson (Fla.), Jesús “Chuy” García (Ill.), Linda Sánchez (Calif.), Adam Smith (Wash.), Raúl Grijalva (Ariz.), Donald Payne (N.J.), Mike Quigley (Ill.), Henry C. “Hank” Johnson (Ga.), Ro Khanna (Calif.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (Del.), Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) Ted Lieu (Calif.), Brenda Lawrence (Mich.), Veronica Escobar (Texas), Mark DeSaulnier (Calif.), Betty McCollum (Minn.), Janice Schakowsky (Ill.), Judy Chu (Calif.), A. Donald McEachin (Va.), Madeleine Dean (Pa.), Jerry McNerney (Calif.), Jamaal Bowman, Ed.D. (N.Y.), and Marie Newman (Ill.).

The letter was also supported by the following environmental and health organizations: Earthjustice, GreenLatinos, Pacific Environment, Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, American Lung Association, Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments.

A PDF of the letter is here.