It doesn’t take a genius to figure out the idling trucks at the Port of Oakland is spewing out diesel fumes, but a study released this week by the California Air Resources Board spells out just how bad it is. The SF Chronicle sums it up pretty well,

“The two-year public health inquiry covered a large swath of the Bay Area - an area of 3,800 square miles that is home to 3.1 million people. The residents had an elevated risk of cancer - nearly 1,200 additional cancers per million people due to long-term exposure to diesel particulate matter than people living elsewhere, the study reported in preliminary findings.”

Totally unacceptable and the Port of Oakland is looking to cut diesel emissions by 85% over the next decade or so. The Port is helping replacing some of the oldest and most polluting diesel trucks independent owner-operators who otherwise couldn’t afford it, and they are (or at least a couple years ago they were) looking at building a new rail link over Altamont to get rid of a lot of that traffic altogether. All those diesel trucks are also adding to the congestion on bay area freeways.

So this is great right? Well, this from another Chronicle story,

“Late Monday, 54 companies, including Gap Inc., Levi Strauss. J.C. Penney and Target Corp., as well as trade associations, wrote Oakland Mayor Ronald Dellums saying the proposals violate state and federal law and impose an unfair burden on those moving goods by container.

“Litigation almost certainly would put the brakes on a timetable for pollution mitigation the port staff members say they would like to start as soon as possible because of health risks.”

These companies are killing people in West Oakland, and paying what it costs to not kill people would be a burden? Who should be suing who here? More stats courtesy the Chronicle,

“In 2005, county public health officials compiled state data revealing that West Oakland children ages 5 and under visited the emergency room for asthma at a rate nearly three times higher than children in Alameda County overall. Additionally, a study of death certificates dating to the 1960s showed that residents of West Oakland lived 10 years fewer than people living in the Oakland hills.”

This is not right and since these companies are not going to be responsible, you might want to help keep pressure on Senators Diane Feinstein, Barbara Boxer and Speaker Nancy Pelosi who took notice when the Cosco Busan hit the Bay Bridge shortly after leaving the Port of Oakland and spilt bunker fuel into the bay. Polluted air is no less a problem than polluted water.