Asthma from air pollution costs Riverside families $4,008 a year, report says - The Press-Enterprise

Asthma from air pollution costs Riverside families $4,008 a year, report says - Press Enterprise

A toxic mix of air pollution from port activity, the logistics industry and wildfires takes its toll on Inland families’ health and pocketbooks, according to a new report.

Asthma cases stemming from bad air quality cost Riverside families $4,008 a year, according to the report released by the office of Rep. Mark Takano, D- Riverside, on Tuesday, May 2.

The report, “State of Air Quality in California’s 39th Congressional District,” is focused on Takano’s district, though at times it refers to data covering the whole county, Taylor Doggett, Takano’s spokesperson, said via email.

“Poor air quality has been a continuing problem in Southern California, but this report only further highlights the crisis caused by the rise of e-commerce,” Takano, whose district includes Perris, Jurupa Valley, Moreno Valley and part of Riverside, said in a news release.

“The cost of free shipping is being paid for by the families in my district and across the Inland Empire who’ve developed health problems from the poor air caused by these warehouses.”

Strategically located near the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the Inland Empire, with a blue-collar workforce, an abundance of flat vacant land and easy access to interstates and rail lines, has become ground zero for a logistics boom that’s filled the region with an estimated one-billion-plus square feet of warehouses.

From 2005 to 2022, more than 100,000,000 square feet of warehouse space was built in Takano’s district, along the 215 Freeway near March Air Reserve Base, Takano’s 29-page report states.

While they’re the region’s economic backbone, warehouses rely on goods supplied by diesel-powered trucks, which are blamed for emitting toxic fumes with hazardous dust and chemicals linked to cancer and other health threats.

The Inland Empire’s air quality typically ranks low in surveys from groups such as the American Lung Association. Logistics companies have said they’re taking steps to curb emissions, and on April 28, the California Air Resources Board approved an ambitious plan to phase out the sale of new diesel truc ks by 2035.

Besides trucks, Takano’s report, which cites academic air pollution studies and federal Environmental Protection Agency research, among other sources, also faults the ports for Inland air pollution.

“The Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach are major sources of emissions that ultimately travel towards the Inland Empire and get trapped in the region due to the natural topography that forms a basin,” the report states.

“Activities such as ships (traveling) in and out of port, loading and unloading, drayage, and trucking activities emit large amounts of particulate matter and nitrous oxides, a precursor to ozone, which can end up in the Inland Empire.”

While the ports have committed to have zero-emission cargo-handling equipment by 2030 and zero-emission trucks by 2035, “it is unlikely these goals will be met given the present slow rate of transition,” the report states.

The Port of LA “recognizes its responsibility to work with heavy industry operators in and around the port to help reduce emissions from port-related sources,” Chris Cannon, the port’s chief sustainability officer, said via email.

To that end, the port in a clean-air action plan in 2006 reached agreements with ports in China, Japan and Singapore to create “green shipping corridors” focused on the use of clean fuels and technology to lower emissions, Cannon said.

Mario Cordero, the Long Beach port’s executive director, said via email: “We acknowledge we have work to do to reduce greenhouse gases and improve air quality for our neighbors throughout the region, including the Inland Empire.”

“That’s why we are committed to the most aggressive green port goals of any seaport in the world, including zero-emissions trucks and cargo tractors, and the cleanest ships on Earth.”

Chris Shimoda, senior vice president, government affairs, for the California Trucking Association, said via email: “California’s trucking industry is subject to the nation’s strictest emission regulations, including the nation’s first smog check for trucks, California-only new engine emission standards and operational restrictions that don’t exist anywhere else in the U.S.”

The county’s dirty air is “compounded” by smoke from “rampant wildfires” erupting between June and October, the report found. The report also draws a link between air pollution and the county’s higher rate of COVID-19 deaths at the peak of the pandemic as well as a surge in hospitalizations from Respiratory Syncytial Virus, commonly known as RSV.

To clean up Inland air, the report suggests, among other things, slowing the pace of warehouse growth to give polluting-cutting policies a chance to take effect. It also recommends a unified approach to fighting air pollution that combines the efforts of “fragmented” air quality districts that only address air quality in certain areas.

“There are no easy or simple solutions to this environmental injustice, but it’s time we prioritize the health and safety of people over the profits of these big e-commerce businesses,” Takano said.