News Updates
Children Closest to Harbor Trade Roadways Suffer More Respiratory Issues, Study Says
November 5, 2009LONG BEACH - A new study on the health impacts of pollution caused primarily by trucks, trains and ships servicing the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles finds children living closest to harbor trade corridors suffer from respiratory ailments significantly higher than previously thought.
The study, published online Wednesday in the American Journal of Public Health, estimates 9 percent of childhood asthma cases in Long Beach are attributable directly to the distance in which sufferers live to freeways and roadways connecting the harbor with inland distribution centers. It was also found at least 1,400 cases of asthma-related bronchitis episodes in the city were caused by ship emissions, notably nitrogen oxide (NOX) fumes.
In Riverside, another hub of goods movement studied in the report, the percentage of asthma cases linked to roadway proximity reached 6 percent, though overall childhood asthma rates in both cities are several percentage points higher.
"The traditional approach to estimating the burden of air pollution-related disease markedly underestimated the true effect," said Rob McConnell, a professor of preventive medicine at USC's Keck School of Medicine. "Our results indicate that there is a substantial proportion of childhood asthma that may be caused by living within 81 yards of a major road in Long Beach and Riverside. The impact of roadway proximity on the overall burden of asthma-related illness is remarkable. Air pollution is a more important contributor to the burden of childhood asthma than is generally recognized, especially to more severe episodes requiring visits to a clinic or emergency room."
The new study's findings show that kids living and/or attending school in close proximity to major trade corridors like the Long Beach (710) and Terminal Island freeways suffer asthma rates significantly higher than students across town and in neighborhoods further distanced from the port. In Long Beach and Wilmington, several schools, including Hudson K-8, Cabrillo and Banning high schools sit within close proximity - sometimes just feet - to major truck and train corridors like the 710, 47 and Harbor (110) freeways, as well as the heavily used Alameda Corridor rail expressway, which accommodates freight trains stretching up to two miles in length. The Hudson playground, for example, abuts a heavily used truck route regularly packed with diesel trucks delivering containers to a busy rail yard on Sepulveda Boulevard in West Long Beach.
Previous studies estimate children in port-adjacent neighborhoods suffer from overall asthma rates roughly double the national average.
However, health impacts extend beyond children and teenagers.
Surveys by the South Coast Air Quality Management District and California Air Resources Board estimate as many as 4,000 long-time residents around San Pedro Bay die prematurely each year from air pollution-related illnesses that include cancer, heart disease and respiratory illness exacerbated by port-generated emissions.
Trade corridors serving Los Angeles and Long Beach - the nation's busiest international trade gateway - stretch from the waterfront to inland cities east of downtown Los Angeles and are among America's most congested, as evidenced by the thousands of diesel trucks and miles of freight trains snaking through cities from Long Beach to Riverside and beyond. It's a corridor infamously labeled the "diesel death zone" by regional air quality regulators.
The collaborative study, which combined research from the University of Southern California, the Environmental Protection Agency and epidemiologists from Spain and Switzerland, encouraged additional research and measures to slash pollution from port industry, which air quality regulators list as the single largest fixed source of pollution in California, where extensive studies on the topic have been conducted. Other major port cities such as New York/New Jersey, Oakland, Seattle/Tacoma and Houston are believed to suffer from similar health-related effects.
Researchers believe the new data can be useful as port authorities move forward on expansion projects expected to accommodate a doubling of trade through the Long Beach and Los Angeles by 2020. By shifting trade corridors away from neighborhoods and schools, asthma rates and healthcare costs may be reduced significantly, McConnell said.
A 2007 study conducted by noted trade economist John Husing estimated the financial impact of hospital-related visits caused by port pollution in Southern California port communities will cost between $4.7 and $5.9 billion over the next 20 years, depending on trade growth and pollution-mitigation factors.
The new report, however, suggests that updated methodology may have severely underestimated previous financial and health-related impacts of port.
"This (proximity) results in a much larger impact of air pollution on asthma related symptoms and health care use than previously appreciated," McConnell noted.
According to a recent survey by the U.S. Census Bureau, an estimated 19 percent of Long Beach residents don't have health insurance, yet the rate increases substantially among residents closest to the port, where larger concentrations of minority groups reside and work. In addition, many of the thousands of drivers serving the ports - some 90 percent of whom are contract drivers paid by the load - are not provided health benefits by the motor carriers they rely on for work. These drivers, along with longshoremen and others working in the harbor, are most affected by diesel pollution, which contains tiny particles that can lodge deep in the lungs and contribute to cancer and other life-threatening ailments.
The threat is further exacerbated by the fact that many harbor truckers don't have health insurance.
Studies looking at driver wages estimate earnings after expenses for fuel, lease payments and vehicle upkeep average about $12 per hour, though that figure can fluctuate widely.
However, Husing's study estimated that if harbor-area trucking companies employed their drivers as sought under the Los Angeles Clean Trucks Plan (which is being challenged by the ATA in federal court), wages would rise to about $20 per hour and motor carriers - likely spurred by collective bargaining agreements - would be forced to carry health insurance benefits for their drivers.
Husing noted that this could raise transportation costs on the average freight container by roughly .1 to .2 percent - about $75 to $150 per container - a number based on the $70,000 median value of an average 40-foot container.
"In the end, you have to look at the fact that when (harbor) drivers are earning about $28,000 or $30,000 a year, it's simply not enough to pay for rent, utilities, new truck payments, insurance and (vehicle) upkeep and also buy health insurance for themselves and their families," said Coral Lopez, a member of the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports, a non profit organization of labor, environmental and community groups pushing for companies to hire drivers as employees and shift the burden of new truck purchase and maintenance on carriers doing business at ports across the country.
The coalition supports efforts under way in Los Angeles, New York, Newark, Florida, Oakland and elsewhere to require taxicab-style concession agreements requiring companies own and maintain new trucks in exchange for access to the marine terminals owned by state and local governments.
Long Beach does not support the employee-driver mandate.
But while such a model could mitigate the burden on taxpayers to fund uninsured patient's healthcare, it's the ports' environmental initiatives that may help ease overall health impacts on harbor-area communities, which are among the nation's most polluted, according to the EPA.
The ports' of Long Beach and Los Angeles jointly banned pre-1989 rigs on Oct. 1, 2008, and by 2012, only trucks meeting federal 2007 emission standards will be granted access to San Pedro Bay marine terminals. The effort is expected to slash truck-generated pollution by 80 percent, although rigs account for only 20 percent of overall port pollution, according to the AQMD.
The majority of toxic fumes emanating from the harbor are generated by freight ships, with lesser amounts emitted by yard equipment and locomotives. To lessen these impacts, the ports have begun implementing a number of initiatives that include requiring the use of cleaner fuels, dockside electricity for ships in berth and alternative-fuel cranes and forklifts, among other measures.
In a related matter, the Port of Long Beach, which had been party to the ATA lawsuit, signed a separate agreement with the organization in late October that extracted itself from the lawsuit by allowing industry to largely self-regulate compliance with the truck turnover plan.
The deal was slammed by the city's former environmental and labor allies - who packed Tuesday's City Council meeting to denounce the agreement as a "sellout" to the trucking and retail industries, which vehemently opposes employee driver mandates.
Port authorities defend the decision by noting that it could save Long Beach taxpayers hundreds of thousands in legal fees in the near-term while allowing the environmental goals of the Clean Trucks Plan to move forward in coming years.
Opponents of the Long Beach deal, however, note that unless companies take ownership of new trucks or driver wages increase substantially to ensure they can meet higher payments for these rigs - which cost between $100,000 and $200,000 - the clean-air effort will require continual port and taxpayer assistance for drivers who find themselves unable to meet lease, insurance and maintenance costs.
Currently, the port is offering heavy subsidies and low-interest loans to drivers to get them into new rigs - monies coming largely from federal, state and local grants and port profits.
"The public has already paid a heavy price with their health, and now we're asked to continue paying the price by supporting a subsidy system we believe will continue long into the future as drivers realize they can't afford new trucks and upkeep down the line without continued (financial) support," Lopez said. "A better approach is to let the companies take responsibility for the trucks and lift that burden off low-wage drivers. It just makes more economic sense."
This article, written by Kristopher Hanson, originally appeared in the Press-Telegram on November 4, 2009.
Cleaner-Trucks Mandate Will Create Hardships at Port of Oakland
October 30, 2009Diesel Emissions Down Drastically At Ports Of L.A. Long Beach
October 2, 2009More Than 5,000 Trucks Meet Clean Trucks Program Standards at Ports
October 1, 2009More than 5,000 trucks meeting 2007 federal emissions standards are hauling more than half of the cargo containers coming in and out of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, officials reported to mark today's first anniversary of the disputed Clean Trucks Program.
At this rate, the nation's busiest port complex could very well meet its goal to reduce diesel truck emissions by 80 percent at the start of 2010, two years earlier than originally anticipated by the program's proponents.
"I think we have well exceeded our expectations," said John Holmes, deputy executive director of operations for the Port of Los Angeles.
"We didn't know where the program was going to go when we started it last year," Holmes said. "We thought we would maybe get 2,200 new trucks on the road, but we've more than doubled that already."
The $1.6 billion program was introduced by both ports on Oct. 1, 2008, with an initial ban on all trucks with engines built before 1989.
Officials have not measured air samples to determine whether the program is achieving its goal, but mathematical estimates show that the number of cleaner trucks entering the ports have eliminated emissions by nearly 70 percent since last year.
Further reductions of up to 80 percent are anticipated beginning Jan. 1, when the ports will ban pre-1994 trucks from entering their terminals.
"While we were cautiously optimistic at the start, we are now ahead of schedule and well on our way to achieving our objectives," said Richard Steinke, executive director of the Port of Long Beach.
"I think the success of the program at this point is a model for what other ports might be able to do with their drayage fleets," Steinke said. "We just need to keep the momentum going for this to succeed."
Port officials said part of that momentum relies heavily on encouraging truckers and freight haulers to purchase vehicles that run on alternative fuels. About 5 percent of the port's current trucking fleet is powered by natural gas, while up to 50 prototype electric trucks are expected to start servicing terminals next year.
Part of the program's initial success has relied heavily on a series of financial incentives that the ports offered to help pay for newer, cleaner-burning trucks.
"Now that we're achieving our goals, we're trying to figure out how to minimize costs and form some sort of an exit strategy because the administration of this program is expensive," Holmes said.
The twin ports split on only one aspect of the program. The Port of Los Angeles approved a mandate that requires drivers to be employees of trucking companies, leading to a gradual ban on independent, self-employed drivers by 2013. The Port of Long Beach did not adopt the employee mandate.
Long Beach Mayor Bob Foster drew a wave of criticism from environmentalists and labor leaders for allowing both types of drivers to enter the port, but said he continues to stand by his decision.
"I still don't understand what driver status has to do with clean air, and I maintain that this is the right model," Foster said. "It's not our job to do some social experiment. When you depart from just cleaning up the air, then you are subject to delays and problems with the program."
The American Trucking Association has filed lawsuits opposing the concession agreements and the Port of Los Angeles employee mandate. More than 800 freight hauling companies and 15,000 drivers have signed concession agreements enforced at both ports to ensure that cleaner trucks are moving cargo.
"The important thing is that the Port of Los Angeles says they're ahead of schedule in cleaning up the air, and we're happy for that, but their concession requirements and the ban on independent drivers is not needed to make it happen," said Clayton Boyce, a spokesman for the ATA.
However, the Natural Resources Defense Council says that the concession agreements used at both ports are needed to directly enforce the gradual trucking ban that will lead to reduced emissions. The NRDC has intervened in the ATA's lawsuit to protect both ports.
"If the ports' hands are tied and they are not allowed to use the critical tools outlined in the concession agreements, we worry about the long-term success of the program," said Melissa Lin Perrella, an NRDC attorney. "The ports should be able to have the right to go after trucking companies that fail to provide clean trucks to the terminals."
The article by Art Marroquin appeared in The Daily Breeze on September 30, 2009.
Teamsters Mourn Tragic Death of Longshoreman
September 16, 2009(
“Our hearts go out to Mr. Kiser’s family and his ILWU brothers and sisters,” said Fred Potter, Teamsters Port Division Director. “All port workers deserve the safest working environment possible, and local officials and employers must ensure all necessary safeguards and enforcement in order to prevent future injuries and fatalities.”
Kiser’s tragic death comes only seven months after the accident that killed Pablo Antonio Garcia, a port truck driver and member of the Teamsters Union. Soon after, the life of a third worker, Felipe Curiel, was nearly lost after a container fell on the cab of his truck. Carlos Rivera, a 73-year-old longshoreman, was also killed in a job-related accident in April of 2008.
The Teamsters continue to underscore the need to prioritize the safety of all waterfront workers for both employee and contract workers, even if they lack union protections.
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of
Hoffa Applauds Salvadoran President's Decision to Reopen Soto Murder Case
August 21, 2009Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa applauded the announcement by the Salvadoran government that it will reopen the investigation into the assassination of Teamsters Port Division Representative Gilberto Soto after nearly five years since his death in Usulutan, El Salvador.
Recently elected Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes ordered the reopening of the case following requests from labor and government officials to follow through on his promise to strengthen the judicial system and crack down on crime in El Salvador by bringing Soto’s murderers to justice.
“President Funes has taken an important first step in strengthening human rights in El Salvador,” Hoffa said. “The violence against trade unionists in El Salvador and across Central and South America has been allowed to go unchecked for far too long. Gilberto Soto’s murderers must not be allowed to remain free if the Salvadoran government seeks to make significant strides in strengthening democratic institutions.”
Hoffa in a recent letter to Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton, urged the State Department to inform President Funes that solving the Soto case will go a long way to further human rights in El Salvador.
“Convicting the Soto assassins is not simply an issue of importance to the Teamsters,” Hoffa wrote. “Those who murder labor and human rights activists in El Salvador have operated with impunity for too many years. This has stifled the development of a trade union movement and stymied the development of a democratic civil society.”
Rep. McGovern also called on President Funes to reopen the Soto case in a June 8 letter.
“This case has not duly advanced through the Salvadoran judicial system, and while Salvadoran authorities made arrests in the case, they have done little to fully investigate,” McGovern wrote.
In an interview with a Salvadoran newspaper, former Salvadoran Human Rights Ombudswoman Beatrice Allamani de Carrillo expressed her satisfaction with the reopening of the case, indicating that it confirms the findings in a report she and her staff originally submitted to authorities.
“Now the Office of the Attorney General has the responsibility to conduct a sound investigation,” said De Carrillo, who has long contended that Soto was murdered because of his trade union activities.
Soto was shot in the back and killed while visiting Usulutan on union business on November 5, 2004. To date, the police have done little to apprehend what appears to be a death squad that killed the union representative. In fact, in De Carrillo’s report, the former ombudswoman charged that the police had perpetrated a cover up rather than conduct an exhaustive investigation. A prominent figure involved in organizing port drivers in the United States, Soto was visiting El Salvador on behalf of the Teamsters to meet with Central American trade union leaders and port drivers.
Immediately following Soto’s death, the Teamsters Union sent a delegation of labor and human rights representatives to El Salvador to appeal for a transparent and effective investigation. The union offered a $50,000 reward for any information leading to the conviction of Soto’s assassins.
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.
Rep. McGovern Calls on Salvadoran President to Reopen Gilberto Soto Murder Case
August 12, 2009In June, Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) authored a letter to Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes, asking for the newly-elected leader to follow through on his commitment to strengthen the country’s justice system by reopening a number of cases that have been ignored for too long under the previous administration. Included in McGovern’s list was the unsolved murder of Teamsters Union International Representative Gilberto Soto.
Environmental-Led Port Coalition Praises President Obama's Pick Of Joseph Brennan To Lead FMC
June 9, 2009A broad alliance of national, state and local environmental, public health, community and labor organizations today applauded President Barack Obama for his appointment of Joseph E. Brennan as acting chair of the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC), the DC agency charged with reviewing ocean-bound commerce.
“Joseph Brennan has shown an understanding that trade in the global economy can have a devastating impact in our communities and that our local officials and government need the tools to protect public health and the environment,” said Alberto Mendoza, the president of the California-based Coalition for Clean Air. “President Obama has selected someone who gets it: environmental stewardship and a strong economy are compatible.”
The Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports, an alliance of over 80 organizations and thousands of port truck drivers and residents, also includes the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the American Lung Association of California, the Teamsters, and the Long Beach Alliance for Children with Asthma. The Coalition has endorsed the successful Port of Los Angeles’ Clean Trucks Program, which required FMC review. Brennan was the lone dissenting voice when two of his colleagues voted to take action against the diesel-emissions reduction initiative, calling their administrative delays and opposition a “colossal mistake.”
“From Day One Commissioner Brennan has understood the magnitude of the public health crisis facing the region caused by port pollution, said David Pettit, director of NRDC’s Southern California Clean Air Program. “We hope the new leadership at the Federal Maritime Commission will support the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in their efforts to implement the historic Clean Trucks Programs to develop sustainable green jobs, enhance our port economy and protect the air we breathe.”
A federal judge has since refused to halt the life-saving programs after the FMC sought an injunction during the Bush Administration. The ruling stated the agency had failed to demonstrate the Clean Trucks Programs would cause irreparable harm to – or create anti-competitive conditions for – the goods movement industry. The programs still face an industry lawsuit by clean-air opponents at the American Trucking Association.
Last winter, the Coalition gathered over 10,000 emails and postcards from community members to Members of Congress representing pollution-affected regions surrounding the LA, Long Beach and Oakland ports. They called on their elected leaders to help appoint new commissioners that share Barack Obama’s commitment to the environmentally and economically sound LA Clean Trucks Program, which in seven months has banned thousands of dirty trucks and has made significant progress towards reducing diesel truck pollution by 80%, delivering $5 billion to the regional economy, and creating stronger safety and security enforcement.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, along with Senators Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein and the entire Democratic California delegation to Congress have each written to the FMC in support of the Los Angeles green-growth policy, along with Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey.
Despite the trucking lobby’s legal challenge, environmentalists, residents and port drivers in other cities such as Oakland, Newark and Seattle have mounted a similar effort in their communities to enact a sustainable LA-style clean-up policy.
“It’s great to hear we have another leader in Washington DC who understands how industry pollution impacts those of us who live near the ports,” said Shirley Burnell, a grandmother who lives in West Oakland, where one in five children suffers from asthma, largely due to truck pollution. “We’ve been breathing this dirty air for too long, and our local officials need the tools to do something about it before more kids get sicker.”
The Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports is a partnership of environmental, public health, labor, faith and community organizations that promote sustainable economic development at West Coast ports. We are working to make the Port trucking system more efficient, reduce air pollution, improve the quality of jobs and stimulate greater economic opportunities for residents living in surrounding port communities.
For more information visit : http://www.cleanandsafeports.org/ or http://www.oakland.cleanandsafeports.org/ • The Coalition for Clean & Safe Ports in LA/LB and Oakland is an alliance of over 80 organizations, including:
Alameda County Public Health Department • Alameda Labor Council, AFL-CIO •American Lung Association of California • Asian Pacific Environmental Network • Clergy & Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE) • Coalition for Clean Air • Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles • Coalition for a Safe Environment • Communities for a Better Environment • Communities for Clean Ports • East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy • East Bay Community Law Center • East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice • Engineers and Architects Association • Harbor Watts Economic Development Corporation • Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana • Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice • Long Beach Alliance for Children with Asthma • Long Beach Community Partners Council • Long Beach Greens • Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy • Los Angeles/Long Beach Labor Coalition • Mexican American Political Association • National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Carson/Torrance (NAACP) • Natural Resources Defense Council • Oakland ACORN •The Pacific Institute • Physicians for Social Responsibility • Progressive Christians Uniting • San Pedro Democratic Club • Sierra Club Harbor Vision Taskforce • West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project • Workforce Collaborative • Change to Win • L.A. County Federation of Labor • UNITE HERE • IAM Lodge 1484 • IBEW Local 11 • ILWU Locals 6, 10, 34, 75 • International Brotherhood of Teamsters • SEIU • Southern California Council of Laborers
Teamsters’ Shifting Gears
May 29, 2009- 1 of 3
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