Pilsen resident Lili Scales lives near the Stevenson Expressway, in a neighborhood she describes as “blighted” by diesel pollution from heavy-duty trucks.
When she walks to her local coffee shop, she smells the exhaust.
When she takes her son to the park, they breathe the acrid fumes.
“We’re exposed to chemicals that contribute to cancer and major health issues,” Scales said. “The diesel pollution is omnipresent. There is no relief.”
Scales was one of more than 20 people — activists, health professionals, community members and environmentalists — who called for stricter emissions rules for both cars and trucks during the public comment portion of an Illinois Pollution Control Board hearing Monday and Tuesday.
The Pollution Control Board is considering whether to adopt three California rules that exceed national standards.
In the case of cars, that would mean that by 2035, all new passenger vehicles sold in Illinois would have to be zero emissions.
For medium and heavy-duty vehicles such as trucks, the proposed rules would require that manufacturers slowly ramp up the number of zero-emissions vehicles sold, to 40% to 75% in 2035.
An additional requirement, focusing on emissions such as nitrogen oxide, would further limit truck pollution.
Supporters pointed to a study showing that Cook County — a leading hub for freight trains and trucks — is in the top 1% of counties nationwide when it comes to a key type of diesel pollution.
Exposure to diesel exhaust can lead to asthma and respiratory illnesses and worsen existing heart and lung disease, especially in children and the elderly, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, which considers diesel exhaust a likely carcinogen.
Supporters of the proposed emissions rules also pointed out that transportation is the leading source of planet-warming greenhouse gases in Illinois. And they noted that the burden of diesel truck traffic falls disproportionately on low-income Black and Latino communities already dealing with high levels of pollution.
“Implementing these rules will be a win for public health, the environment, workers and growing the green economy,” said Emilee Chaclas, a conservation organizer for the Illinois chapter of the Sierra Club.
Critics weren’t invited to speak at this week’s hearing, the first of two, but some groups are pushing back against the proposal, including Local 150 of the International Union of Operating Engineers, whose members operate heavy construction equipment.
Local 150’s work includes repairing streets and constructing roads and bridges.
Local 150 executive director of labor management operations Marc Poulos told the Tribune that his major objection is that the emissions reduction proposal doesn’t address how to replace money that will be lost when more drivers switch to electric vehicles — and no longer have to pay the Illinois motor fuel tax.
“Folks in the environmental community come up with these ideas that I guess look good on paper, but lack a larger, broader plan,” Poulos said. “The problem for us is, if you were to implement this particular program, I’m not sure how we would fund fixing a pothole, or fixing a bridge, or fixing a road.”
At the Illinois Fuel and Retail Association, which represents gas stations and fuel distributors, CEO Nate Harris also had an objection.
“If the state is going to do something this big, it really should be done through the legislature, and we’re working on that,” he said. “We’re not opposed. We’re not supportive. We’re kind of neutral and we just want to know, how is this all going to play out, and we want to be at the table.”
During the pollution board hearing and a midday news conference, supporters talked about Chicago children with asthma who can’t go to the playground on high-pollution days, and adults who have to miss work.
Belmont Cragin resident Emmanuel Garcia, a high school student who was recently diagnosed with asthma, said that half of his junior class has the disease.
Zitlalli Paez, a lifelong Pilsen resident, said that she had to quit a job because her employer was located on Western Avenue — a popular route for trucks.
The diesel exhaust caused dizziness, difficulty breathing and chest pains, she said.
Alex Peimer, 38, said he suffered from a chronic lung conditions all his life, but when he moved to Chicago in 2016 — and started breathing the polluted air here — the frequency, duration and severity of his health problems increased.
The situation got so bad that a pulmonologist estimated that he had a 15% chance of surviving for four years, he said.
Peimer, a professor of geography and environmental studies, considers himself lucky because in April 2023 he received a double lung transplant, but he added that lung transplants aren’t cures.
He’s now immunocompromised, his median life expectancy is about 10 years, and he can’t go outside freely on many days.
“I can sit inside for 10 years, or I can be in a state that values the lives of its citizens — even those who move here and then become so ill that they need a transplant,” he told the board. “So please adopt these clean vehicle standards not just for me, but for anyone else who is suffering.”
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