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Southern California air quality regulators are reneging on promises to enact long-delayed rules by the end of this year to curb health-threatening and global warming pollution from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. .
The South Coast Air Quality Management District is once again doing nothing, failing to do its only job, opposed by organized labor and powerful corporate interests who have collaborated on a campaign to kill proposals aimed at cleaning up the environment. cringing in the face. The largest single source of pollution that forms smog in this region.
It is clear that the opposition was successful. The Air Quality Agency and its 13-member board backed away from Commissioner Vanessa Delgado’s pledge in May to implement the rules by the end of the year.
Instead, the district is now offering a much weaker alternative. It would require ports to plan for zero-emissions infrastructure, a far-fetched approach that does not include emissions reductions and is not expected to be considered until late next year.
This does not allow regulators to respond to the serious and ongoing health threat posed by port pollution. The concentration of soot-spewing diesel trucks, ships, trains, and cargo handling equipment exacerbates smog across the region and contributes to increased cancer risk in port communities. Southern California will not be able to clean its air to meet federal health standards without significant pollution reductions at its ports, and the air district says failing to meet those standards will result in at least 1,500 deaths per year. It is responsible for premature deaths and thousands of excess hospital deaths. Emergency room visits due to asthma, heart attacks, and other health crises.
Air pollution officials face formidable adversaries such as the Pacific Merchant Marine Association, the International Port and Warehousing Union, and other labor and management organizations that have worked together to undermine clean air rules at America’s busiest ports. There is no question that there is. Complicated. Union members have joined freight industry lobbyists in appearing at public meetings as part of a coordinated opposition campaign fueling concerns about a “devastating impact” on California’s supply chain and economy.
Air Quality Management District spokesperson Nahal Mogarabi said there was “strong feeling” that “some people support efforts to regulate ports, and some people oppose them.”
While some opponents have legitimate concerns about the new regulations (employment impacts will be analyzed and addressed during the rulemaking process), some opponents clearly have Some people try to obstruct and delay it for their own purposes.
Terminal operators, shipping companies, and other industries that depend on the movement of cargo falsely claim that these port pollution rules are actually just restrictions on economic activity. They argue that despite mounting evidence to the contrary, there is no way to accelerate emissions reductions at ports without reducing cargo movements and diverting cargo to other less environmentally friendly ports. are.
We won’t buy it. For decades, California has relied on strict air quality standards to force and accelerate technological change across many industries. We are cleaning our air and growing our economy at the same time, as the port’s own data shows emissions are decreasing over time, even as cargo volumes have increased. Ta.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson are also to blame. Both Bass and Richardson said they support zero-emission infrastructure plans, but declined to say whether they would support air zone rules that would actually reduce port pollution. Everything suggests otherwise. The city-owned port, managed by Bass and Richardson, has long opposed local air quality regulations, even modest regulations that force the port to adhere to its own clean air plans and zero-emissions pledges. is.
Bass spokeswoman Gabby Maas said the mayor is “committed to improving the lives of Angeleno residents living near the port, especially when it comes to prioritizing improved public health.” Mr Richardson said the commitment to reducing port emissions was unwavering.
Most concerning of all is the endless and frenzied abdication by the Air Quality Management District Board, which is made up of locally elected and appointed officials from Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties, but only ‘s job is to purify the air to protect public health.
If board members don’t have the courage to stand up to worker and corporate interests and regulate the biggest polluters in the nation’s smoggiest regions, there’s no hope they will do so under more difficult conditions down the road. What is it? Soon, they will be operating under another Trump administration, and are expected to once again try to strip states of their ability to clean the air. Local leaders need to step up and take action.
The next time you look to the horizon and see the brown haze that pollutes the air in Los Angeles for much of the year, know that Southern California could have clearer skies, less cancer, less asthma, and longer lifespans. Please remember one thing. These are benefits that people in other parts of the country already enjoy, but we don’t. Because those with the power to fix it are too afraid to act.
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