Setting the record straight on EVS and city residents
As a physician and former director of health for the city of Hartford, I have seen first-hand the effect that traffic and pollution have had on our city’s residents and the people of Connecticut.
When you look at the data from the American Lung Association, you see that death rates for Black children are eight times higher than in white children, and the Black and Latino residents are hospitalized for asthma at rates that are two to three times higher than that of white residents. These are the facts that drive my perspective in the debate over electric cars and trucks now underway in our state.
To understand my passion on this issue, you must first understand my story. I was fortunate to have college-educated parents who encouraged me and served as wonderful role models. Their relative success as educators and administrators allowed us to move to a middle-class, all-white suburb of St. Louis with good schools, a clean environment, and a lower cost of living.
This was in contrast to the limitations my urban-dwelling relatives faced and the life of slavery that my great-great parents lived. I came to realize that many of my closest relatives had as much innate potential to succeed as I had, but they did not have the opportunities that I was afforded. Nonetheless, my path, while more privileged, put me in positions where I faced racism that was constant, sharper and more overt. With one foot in the suburbs and one foot in the city, I learned to understand and navigate different cultures and communities and to use that knowledge to benefit others.
I’ve never forgotten my childhood experiences and ever since have channeled my energy to help my low-wealth neighbors, disadvantaged people of color, and all inner-city residents, it has become my calling as a both a physician and a champion for environmental justice. I am sharing my story today, so you understand my concern for my friends and neighbors who are disenfranchised from the current discussions on clean trucks and cars. They are the subjects of soundbites and stories from some who do not have their interests at heart, but want to sow doubt on how electric cars and trucks will actually benefit them and their children.
When I came to Connecticut in the 1990s, I worked to help organize people of color and low-wealth communities in our state to have a voice and use it to improve their situations. I became known as the “father of environmental justice in Connecticut,” long before it was the mainstream concept it has become today.
I consider clean cars to be an environmental justice issue because of what I see in my own South Green neighborhood in Hartford. While fewer than 50% of the residents own cars here, we are subjected to daily traffic jams and congestion from commuter vehicles, transit and school buses and heavy-duty trucks. The smog-forming pollution from these vehicles exacerbates diseases like asthma and COPD and lowers resistance to pneumonia and other respiratory illnesses that run rampant in this neighborhood. Simply put, our community is disproportionately affected by traffic pollution with real and substantial consequences.
While my community and so many others like it in Connecticut suffer from the harmful effects of transportation sector pollution, there are actually solutions that would provide significant relief. The Advanced Clean Trucks and Clean Cars II program would not only clean up our air, it would also reduce health harms while addressing the emissions that are fueling our climate crisis.
From a health perspective, the pollution reductions from electrifying just medium and heavy duty trucks and buses alone would save our state over $270 million (over the next two decades) in avoided health care costs-not to mention the quality of life benefits. These savings could be as high as $500 million-$1billion by 2050.
Under the program, no one will be forced to buy an electric vehicle. New, gas-powered cars will remain available until 2035. After that, they’ll continue to be accessible on the used-car market, where the vast majority of people buy their cars and trucks. But as more states move to the Clean Cars and Trucks program, more EV options will continue to hit the market and costs will continue to decline. In fact, I just sold my first hybrid on the secondary market to a single mother of four, who would not have been able to buy it when it was new. That will eventually happen with EVS too.
Yes, it is important that the transition to electric vehicles is equitable. Renters and condo owners should be able to charge their vehicles at home like everyone else, rather than going to a filling station or charging at work. At least 40% of the investment in vehicle conversion and infrastructure should be invested in disadvantaged communities. Urban trucks, buses and fleets should be prioritized for investment to clean up our air and reduce health harms. This all argues that we should speed up, rather than slow down the conversion to electric buses, trucks and automobiles.
The reality is, the more people we get into electric cars, trucks, and buses, the cleaner our air will be in cities and communities across Connecticut, and that gets us all moving in the right direction. It will improve the lives of my friends, neighbors and urban communities throughout Connecticut. That has been my goal since I came to Hartford.