With the weather warming up, Wisconsinites will head out for road trips.

Some local leaders hope in the future, drivers will pass through their communities with vehicles sold under tighter emission standards.

This spring, the federal Environmental Protection Agency announced finalized pollution standards for cars and light trucks, with these phased-in updates covering model years 2027 through 2032.

For example, they require an industry-wide target of reducing light-duty vehicle emissions by 50%.

Chippewa County Board of Supervisors member Pamela Guthman said as a registered nurse, she's well aware of elevated asthma cases in her region.

She said she hopes those can be addressed with fewer cars emitting harmful pollutants.

"These EPA standards are necessary to decrease the harmful particulate matter," said Guthman, "to save the lives of our children, grandchildren, and community members right here in Eau Claire and throughout Wisconsin."

In a news conference, Guthman and other local leaders touted the economic benefits of adding more electric vehicles to the road.

Those include consumer savings on repairs and maintenance. They hope policymakers ignore opposition from the oil industry and other skeptics.

The rules don't require automakers to use one type of technology, but opponents say subsidies give Electric Vehicles' an unfair advantage.

As a representative of Healthy Climate Wisconsin, Guthman said maintaining these new standards can also reduce healthcare costs, while keeping the labor force strong.

"Keeping employers and employees happy," said Guthman, "by people being healthy enough to get to work. "

Environmental policy experts say the new standards also provide more certainty for the automotive industry as it transitions to electric vehicles.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says despite certain market forces, EV's are still projected to reach 40% of total passenger car sales in the U.S. by 2030. More optimistic forecasts say they could top 50%.



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The environmental group Air Alliance Houston has released its list of the top 12 air polluters in Harris County, calling them the "Dirty Dozen."

The nonprofit used data from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. According to the report, the top three polluters are ExxonMobil and Chevron Phillips in Baytown, and LyondellBasell in Channelview.

Inyang Uwak, research and policy director for the group, said the emissions also are worsening climate change.

"From heat waves to an increase in precipitation; I mean, the last past three days, we had high precipitation, you know, the rains just kept coming," Uwak pointed out. "They're also more frequent and severe in nature. We are still getting over the impacts of Hurricane Beryl."

The group's research shows most of the polluters are located in communities of color and low-income neighborhoods in East Harris County. Uwak noted they will share the results with state regulators.

Uwak emphasized members of Air Alliance Houston hope the results of the study will influence regulators on permitting and regulations.

"We need them to have more rules at the state level that take into consideration the cumulative impact of these exposures," Uwak contended. "We also need TCEQ to acknowledge the community's power to advocate for their health."

The Houston area has more than 600 chemical manufacturing facilities. Research shows continuous exposure to toxic chemicals leads to health issues and sometimes death.

Uwak added residents voice their concerns but often feel like they are not heard.

"It is one thing for the community to really show up at these permit meetings," Uwak stressed. "But it is more important that these comments influence TCEQ's decisions."


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Clean-air advocates in Colorado are celebrating new EPA standards, which they believe can play a major role in reducing air pollution impacting national parks and Colorado's Front Range communities.

The rule aims to cut more than seven billion tons of greenhouse gases by requiring carmakers to reduce or eliminate tailpipe pollution.

Travis Madsen, transportation program director for the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project, said the EPA's goals are achievable, because you can drive where you want to go right now using zero-emission technology.

"Electric vehicles can take us along scenic byways. We've got charging stations between Denver, where I live, and Rocky Mountain National Park. The tools are here now, they're available, they work, they can cut pollution," he said.

The EPA downgraded the Front Range to "severe" for air quality violations in 2022, largely due to ground-level ozone pollution produced by oil and gas operations and tailpipe emissions. The new rule, which applies to passenger cars up to medium-duty vehicles sold between 2027 and 2032, has been embraced by automakers and unions.

The EPA projects that the rule will create $100 billion in benefits each year, including $13 billion in health-care savings due to improved air quality.

Gary Hall, Estes Park mayor, said the air has been so bad lately that it's hard to see the mountains in Rocky Mountain National Park. He says poor air quality - from wildfires linked to climate change, or ground-level ozone - impacts the national park experience for tourists, and many don't return as often.

"And therefore it impacts the economy. My hotel owners suffer, my restaurants suffer, my merchants selling Estes Park t-shirts and taffy suffer," Hall claimed.

The rule gives automakers flexibility on how to cut emissions. Advanced gasoline, plug-in hybrid, and electric are all on the table. But many expect it to spur U.S. manufacturers to catch up with Europe and China in electric vehicle production. Madsen said once you drive off the lot, EVs offer big savings.

"Electric vehicles are simpler, they're easier to maintain. And fuel, if you're charging at home on a residential electricity rate, is equivalent to less than a dollar a gallon of gasoline," he explained.


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Biofuels are painted as a greener energy alternative to fossil fuels but a new study found the industry produces plenty of its own air pollutants.

American biofuel plants reported emitting nearly 13 million pounds of hazardous air pollution in 2022, according to a report from the Environmental Integrity Project, trailing only slightly behind the 14.5 million pounds oil refineries released.

Tom Pelton, director of communications for the nonprofit, said South Dakota's 16 biofuel plants, which mostly make ethanol from corn, produce about 1.7 million pounds of greenhouse gases each year and 350,000 pounds of air pollution, including known carcinogens. Biofuel production is concentrated in the Midwest and Pelton pointed out people living nearby could suffer health effects.

"It's hard to detect and hard to track, but a person living downwind from one of these plants might have a few percentage points more chance of getting cancer over their lifetime," Pelton explained.

The report recommended the Environmental Protection Agency increase monitoring and control of air pollutants, improve the accuracy of emissions reporting and end current exemptions for ethanol manufacturers under the Clean Air Act. It also suggested ending government subsidies for biofuels, which benefit area farmers and communities.

According to the South Dakota Corn Utilization Council, ethanol production supported nearly 30,000 jobs in the state in 2022 and more than $4 billion in corn production.

Pelton argued expanded agricultural production for the industry can have other negative effects.

"When you subsidize growing corn to make ethanol, more kind of questionable lands are converted from grasslands and forests into row crops of corn," Pelton noted. "That takes away habitat for birds and for insects and for wildlife."

The conversions may also lead to the use of more chemical fertilizers, he added, which can lead to algae blooms and other problems in waterways. Among the 32 U.S. biofuel projects proposed or underway, according to the report, is a new biodiesel facility in Lake Preston, South Dakota.


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