opinion

Clean car standards help Tennessee kids breathe easier

Like many Tennessee moms, I spend a lot of time behind the wheel of my family’s car, crisscrossing across town for work, taking my daughter to and from preschool, and making never-ending pit stops for more groceries.

Gas is a big part of my family’s budget, and every time I fill up at the pump I think about what else that money could go for -- if only my car were more fuel efficient.

Thankfully, over the last six years, national Clean Car Standards -- jointly issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration (NHTSA) -- have ensured that new vehicles are manufactured with improved fuel efficiency, saving families money at the gas pump. In fact, these standards have already saved America’s drivers $50 billion at the pump.

But the savings don’t stop there. With better fuel efficiency, we are also reducing tailpipe pollution, keeping the air we breathe clean. Cleaner air makes for healthier children. In this way, cutting back on gasoline use is improving lives and stretching our dollars. As a mom, I think this is a winning combination.

The Clean Car Standards are especially beneficial for our heavily congested metro areas, as tailpipe emissions can combine in the atmosphere with our famous Tennessee sunshine to form smog -- a powerful lung irritant and trigger for asthma attacks.

According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, Memphis is the hardest place in the country to live with asthma due, in part, to its poor air quality. Knoxville and Chattanooga respectively jockey for 7th and 8th positions.

Tennessee is the only state to have three cities listed in the top 10 worst places to live with asthma, a title no one wants to boast.

That’s why Tennesseans need the the National Clean Car Standards. They help protect our children’s developing lungs, and those who live with respiratory ailments, such as asthma.

That sounds sweet to this mom’s ears. The problem is, those Clean Cars Standards are now under attack, with the Trump Administration seeking to roll back fuel efficiency on all new vehicles.

A recent poll shows that Tennesseans overwhelmingly support increased fuel efficiency, reports the National Resources Defense Council.

No one wants more pollution and dirtier air, but that’s exactly what will happen in Tennessee if we roll back clean car standards.

In 2012, Sen. Lamar Alexander and Sen. Bob Corker both supported the Clean Car Standards. These standards are working: they are saving families money and they are reducing our tailpipe pollution.

I urge our senators to support the Clean Car Standards and not slam the brakes on them.

Lindsay Pace is the Tennessee Field Coordinator for Moms Clean Air Force.