Americans’ love for trashing everything has made waste management one of the most successful and profitable industries in the country. But this is managing waste and pollution on the back end: What do we do with it once we have it?
The environmental movement is about cutting down waste and pollution on the front end, by not creating it in the first place.
The Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) rule slated for implementation in January is a sensible environmental initiative that would start replacing diesel trucks with electric ones and cut down diesel pollution hanging over New Jersey.
Our diesel truck fleet has expanded mightily in the past 10 years, fueled in part by unprecedented warehouse development. In many New Jersey communities, this is causing widespread health problems. Our emergency rooms see many patients choking on the fumes and particulate matter from trucks.
Unfortunately, these patients and other afflicted residents were not adequately heard at an Assembly Transportation and Independent Authorities Committee hearing Dec. 12, where members voted unanimously to delay implementation of the rule for another two years, under S-3817 and A-4967.
In the environmental community, our hopes are now pinned on the full Legislature, which will consider the bills later, and Gov. Phil Murphy.
Will trucking companies and independent truckers feel the pinch from this rule? Most assuredly. Electric trucks are not cheap. Is the alternative any cheaper, though? Lives are at stake. Trucks are a leading contributor to not just respiratory problems but climate change, too.
Afflicted by heat and drought this year, the giant holly tree in my backyard has produced one-tenth of its usual fruit. The swarm of robins that shows up like clockwork for this banquet every January will be sorely disappointed.
When truckers complain about electric truck requirements hitting them on the bottom line, we should hear, too, from New Jersey farmers who produced anemic or nonexistent harvests this year.
Much work, planning and thought have gone into advanced clean trucks. We need the rule now, not two years from now. With apologies to the trucking lobby, it can’t be business as usual. Things are too far gone already.
Tony Hagen, Florence
Note: The writer is editor of the New Jersey Sierran, the quarterly publication of the Sierra Club, New Jersey Chapter.
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