Growing up amid the opaque skies of Los Angeles resulted in childhood asthma for DJ Portugal. To protect his four children from the same fate, he moved to Phoenix, hoping for clearer vistas and cleaner skies. But the Valley of the Sun has consistently failed to meet air quality standards, a side effect of its status as an ever expanding business and transportation hub. 

With the Environmental Protection Agency still in the process of creating more stringent rules to regulate greenhouse emissions from heavy-duty trucks, Portugal and other clean air advocates gathered on Tuesday to demand results this year. Portugal, an organizing director for Chispa Arizona, a local climate change action organization, warned that failing to protect Arizona’s air would have painful consequences for the state’s youth.