I attended the Project Committee meeting for the I-710 project last week.  This Committee directs how the future expansion project for the I-710 should proceed.  For those of you not familiar with Southern California traffic, but have heard the horror stories, the I-710 is the major artery leading to and from the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.  It has amongst the highest percentage in the nation of diesel-belching big rigs driving down it every day -- literally thousands of dilapidated trucks scream down its lanes daily.  Those unlucky enough to travel the I-710 can see the truck exhaust come out of the tailpipe. However, researchers at Universities in Southern California discovered that the pollution does not simply remain in the freeway corridors, and areas immediately adjacent to highways have exceptionally high levels of fine particulate levels too.  A public letter today to transportation planners at the Southern California Association of Governments from a broad array of environmental groups, environmental justice groups, and public health groups used this research to indicate the potential havoc that is being wreaked by this public health issue in communities near highways throughout the region.  The letter submitted states --   

The California Air Resources Board ("CARB") recognizes that "air pollution  studies indicate that living close to high traffic and the associated emissions may lead to adverse health effects beyond those associated with regional air pollution in urban areas." EPA estimates that in a moderate sized city, particle pollution causes 25 to 50 increased deaths for each 0.5 mg/m3 above the national standard. The studies conducted in the L.A. basin show that concentrations of black carbon (one of the most hazardous components of the fine particles) downwind from highways with heavy truck traffic can be 12-13 mg/m3 times greater than concentrations found in urban air upwind of the highways. Particle concentrations greater than the regional average are measured at least 300 meters from heavily trafficked highways. In the four county Los Angeles air basin, census data show that approximately 1.5 million residents live within 300 meters of major freeways. Using EPA's methodology, for these 1.5 million Angelinos living in this high pollution zone, increased mortality is estimated to range from 300 to 500 deaths per year.

Despite this troubling scientific evidence, the quest for clean air in the basin appears to be a joke for some.  In jest during the meeting on Thursday night, several decision-makers on how the I-710 expansion project should proceed mentioned that they wish they had a "clean air fairy" that could come forward and clean up the toxic mess that is air quality near areas where diesel equipment is highly concentrated (e.g. highways, ports, etc).  The implication from their tone was that environmental and environmental justice advocates are living in a mythical world in desiring clean, healthy air for all Angelinos.  Despite these attempts to diminish the advocates' message, they mentioned that our region is doing the best it can.  This led me to question whether that is in fact true.  Are we in fact doing the best we can?

Upon thinking about the current direction of the I-710 project is taking and other projects like the SR-47 (another pollution-plagued thoroughfare in LA), it is becoming clearer that we are not doing our best.  As debates are brewing in D.C. about adding more and more funds for capital-intensive highway expansion projects, this issue becomes more critical. Our transportation planners continue to desire to add freeway lanes by default throughout communities in the basin, and I am left wondering how we will reduce our severe air pollution problems in the region, battle climate change, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.    

The letter sent today lays out several alternatives that could be used to dramatically reduce pollution, including electrified trucks, electrified rail, and implementation of an advanced container transport system.  These are the technologies that our leaders need to be implementing and laying the groundwork for now instead of continuing the stale tactic of continuously adding highway lanes.   

I recall the day in my childhood when someone alleged that the Tooth Fairy did not exist.  I denied these assertions and still believed in this mythical being because I did not want to lose out on cash under my pillow.  Like my childhood self, our region is in denial that its actions are not exacerbating LA's notorious air pollution problems.  The impacts of this denial are far greater than losing a couple of bucks under a pillow. We are left with premature death, asthma attacks, children missing school days, and many other chronic problems.  That is a lot to lay our head on at night.  So, I encourage our planners and air quality agencies to work with NRDC and other groups to realize that we do not live in a fairy tale land where someone can wave a wand and our pollution disappears. Our air pollution woes are real and deserve real attention and solutions.