MAINE, Maine — "Zeroing in on Healthy Air,” a new national report issued by the American Lung Association, details the benefits about transitioning to zero-emission vehicles.
The report suggests Mainers specifically could benefit from this switch in two ways. First, switching to zero-emissions vehicles could prevent more than 400 premature deaths. Second, the switch could generate about $4.5 billion in public health benefits.
The goal is to create a cleaner respiratory environment. Transitioning to clean, zero-emission vehicles would have a dramatic impact on the air quality and health of Mainers.
If all new passenger vehicles sold are zero-emission, the nation’s electric grid will be powered by clean, non-combustion electricity replacing dirty fossil fuels by 2035, the report states.
The association said the envisioned transition in Maine would generate the following:
- 402 avoided deaths
- 5,870 avoided asthma attacks
- 31,000 avoided lost workdays
“The transportation sector is a leading contributor to air pollution and climate change,” Lance Boucher, director of advocacy at the American Lung Association, said. “Thankfully, the technologies and systems are in place to make these benefits a reality, especially in communities most impacted by harmful pollution today. We need our state leaders to act to implement equitable policies and invest in the transition to healthy air today. This is an urgent health issue for millions of people in the U.S.”
"What we'd like to see is more attention paid to the policies we need to move toward cleaner technologies, we want to see more investments made in cleaner technologies and pivot away from fossil fuels, and by doing that, in Maine for example, we $4.5 billion in public health benefits, hundreds of lives saved, hundreds of asthma attacks avoided and really better health because we are making these investments and policy decisions toward cleaner air," Will Barrett said, senior director for Advocacy and Clean Air at the American Lung Association.
The report said poor air quality caused by transportation and electricity generation contributes to a wide range of negative health impacts, including childhood asthma attacks, impaired lung function and development, lung cancer, heart attacks, strokes, and premature deaths.
The American Lung Association is asking the public to sign a petition calling for more rapid transition to zero-emission vehicles and energy at Lung.org/EV.
"If you think of ports or major trucking corridors, shifting those off of diesel into zero-emission technologies will have significant health benefits, and not just for the community around them but the workers and the others who are impacted, and then especially if you think about kids riding school buses, diesel school buses to school. That's a major source of pollution to start their day, and we are really concerned about that," Barret said.
For more information about "Zeroing in on Healthy Air,” visit Lung.org/EV.
You can find the full report by clicking here.