Hazardous to Our Health

NOT JUST A CALIFORNIA PROBLEM

New Report Links Poor Industry Standards in Port Trucking to Public Health Crisis on Both Coasts

Diesel Pollution Claims More Lives Each Year Than New York and New Jersey Homicides Combined

A major new report by the Coalition for Healthy Ports finds mounting evidence that lax regulation in the national port trucking system has triggered a broad public health crisis similar to that in the California port communities of Long Beach, Los Angeles and Oakland.  The release of the report precedes an expected announcement from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey banning old trucks at the region’s ports.

Hazardous to Our Health: The Human Impact of Port Truck Pollution on Truck Drivers and Residents in New York and New Jersey collects, compares, and analyzes the latest data on the relevant environmental and public health issues in the region. The findings reinforce the need for clean truck campaigns and responsible regulation in port areas across the country. Some of the major findings include:

• Premature deaths attributed to diesel pollution in New York and New Jersey will reach more than 3,100 in 2010, according to the Clean Air Task Force. That’s five-and-a-half times the number of homicides in the cities of Newark and New York City combined in 2008, and over two-and-a-half times more than the murder rate across the states of New York and New Jersey in the same year.
• In northern New Jersey, and particularly in Newark, asthma rates are disproportionately high – with 1 out of 4 children suffering from the illness compared to 1 out of 12 in areas further removed from the polluting ports.
• Richmond County on Staten Island has high asthma rates among residents living adjacent to the Howland Hook port, and ranks 20th in the country with regard to health risks from diesel soot. The risk of getting cancer among residents in Staten Island is now 703 times greater than the Environmental Protection Agency’s acceptable cancer risk level.

View the Press Release here

Click here to download the full PDF version of the report

For more information please contact Paul Karr at 917-208-5155 or paul.karr@changetowin.org