Testimony of lawrence Utvak to NHSTA/EPA Hearing on Phase 2 Truck Standards 

August 18th, 2015 

My name is Lawrence Litvak, and I live in Mill Valley, California. I am testifying today as a private atizen:-

For the past seven years I have taught as a lecturer in public policy and urban studies at Stanford 

University, after a career encompassing business, government and the nonprofit sector. I have a 

degree in Public Policy and a B.A. in Economics. 

I am testifying today in support of strengthening the standards for fuel efficiency and greenhouse 

emissions. 

First, I would like to comment from my perspective as someone who teaches public policy. Good 

making is explicit about its values and evaluative aiteria, considers alternative approaches to the 

problem, and relies strongly on evidence as a basis for making its recommendations. I've taken a 

your Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and the accompanying documents. The process you are foil ·ng in 

developing the Phase 2 truck standards meets these principles of good policy analysis, and I cou offer 

your work as a positive example for my students. Moreover, in general, fuel efficiency standards h ve 

been a solid example of how government policies can improve the general welfare of its citizens. 

I also testify as a citizen whose community is threatened by the effects of climate change. I reside · st 

north of San Francisco. We are already experiencing the predicted drier conditions, and the dairy 

farmers in our county are suffering from reduced grazing and the grape growers are facing water 

shortages. 

I live only one mile from San Francisco Bay. I am personally lucky because my house is about 170 eet 

above sea level. But in our town, miles of roads, thousands of homes, and many schools, including the 

ones where my children went, are very dose to sea level. Depending on how high carbon dioxide I vels 

and resulting sea levels go, these will have to be protected by dikes, moved, or abandoned. So wh ther 

measures like the Phase 2 truck standards are set aggressively will have a profound impact on the 

community I live in. 

I live across the Bay from Richmond, California, a largely low income community which is home to lot of 

industry serviced by heavy-duty trucks, including a large Chevron refinery. These standards will uce 

the health risk to communities like Richmond by reducing toxic air pollution from idling trucks and o 

refineries. 

lns.·l.k . Because there is so much at stake, we must take full advantage of __.. and cost-effective ap 

to reducing emissions. So I want to urge the NHSTA and EPA to go beyond their current proposal r 

Phase 2, and to adopt the standards recommended by the Union of Concerned Scientists which wi 

achieve 40% savings by 2025. If the final proposal is strengthened in line with the UCS analysis, 2035 

it would avoid an additional 40 million metric tons of global warming emissions annually-equivale to 

shutting down 12 coal-fired power plants. 

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today, and I hope that you strengthen the proposed stand a s 

moving forward. 

Lawrence Litvak 

lalitvak@stanford.edu 

415-595-0090 

14 Midhill Drive 

Mill Valley, CA 94941