Focus on the Black community’s future by taking action to address air pollution
Every February, we recognize the numerous contributions African Americans have made to our nation’s history. From fighting for civil rights, inspiring us through literature, and sparking advancements in science, Black History Month provides us with an opportunity to recognize groundbreaking achievements.
While this month serves as a celebration of history and an opportunity to consider the prospects of a healthy and thriving future for Black families, the reality is that we are reminded about our collective plight and struggle every day in America. In Southern California, that means Black residents find it harder to breathe.
Black children have the highest rates of asthma in Los Angeles County, and breathing in air pollution can make their symptoms far worse. Studies have shown that living 300 to 500 meters from a highway increases childhood asthma, impairs lung function, and can increase deaths from cardiovascular diseases. Although the science is still emerging, we anticipate that COVID-19 survivors could have reduced lung function, making them more susceptible to the health effects of air pollution.
The disparities don’t end there. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, on average, African Americans in California breathe 43 percent higher levels of fine particulate matter pollution (PM2.5) compared to white Californians.
Southern California has long suffered from the worst air pollution in the country and 2020 ended with the worst smog we’ve seen in decades. Unfortunately, higher incidents of asthma, lung damage, and respiratory and cardiovascular disease are the side-effects of poor air quality. The primary culprits responsible for emitting smog forming pollution and other cancer-causing toxics are heavy duty trucks.
The trucks in our region play an important role in supporting goods movement which anchors our strong regional economy. But our communities of color continue to shoulder the burden of the pollution diesel trucks produce. To make it easier for our community to breathe, it’s on all of us to take action and pursue all solutions to improve our air quality.
Let’s start with immediately implementing the ports clean truck rate.
Last year, the Harbor Commissions of Los Angeles and Long Beach respectively approved a new fee for diesel-fueled trucks that visit the ports. However, the fee has not yet been implemented.
More than 18,000 trucks move cargo through both ports. As of last year, only 120 are fueled by natural gas, and 20 are zero-emission vehicles.
Revenue generated from this fee will be directed to a fund that will help truckers convert to cleaner vehicles. It’s an incentive to embrace newer technology faster and provide much-needed public health benefits and an economic jolt to create a cleaner goods movement industry in Southern California.
The Los Angeles region continues to fail to meet federal air quality standards. The clean truck rate is an important step to put us on a path towards finally cleaning our air. With the Biden/Harris Administration setting forth an ambitious clean energy plan, we need to meet the moment.
Times are tough. We have an uncertain future as we navigate a pandemic, an economic downturn, and a need to address structural racism in our institutions. And we all want nothing more than a robust and inclusive recovery.
And all of this can be done with minimal impact to the economy. The Ports’ own study shows that fees much higher than the ones they proposed would have an insignificant impact. Several other studies point to the significant and increasing economic benefits to our region from investing in cleaner technology industries, including quality jobs and reduced health care costs.
Let’s choose to embrace this fee as having the potential of creating new jobs in cleaner technology industries. Let’s focus on the opportunity to expand economic equity for communities of color. Let’s push to become a global leader by embracing innovation.
Every day without implementing this clean truck rate is another day where we live with the unacceptable reality that Southern California children will grow up experiencing asthma attacks on our most polluted days. It’s a reality where residents experience health outcomes determined by their race, income, and proximity to our congested corridors.
As the newest member of the South Coast Air Quality Management District Governing Board, I believe that we all have a responsibility to demonstrate leadership and protect vulnerable communities impacted disproportionately by air pollution.
Let’s turn Black History Month into a month of action and ensure every young person of color can grow up breathing easier and making their marks on our collective history.
Long Beach Vice Mayor Rex Richardson serves on the governing board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District.