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For updated information on the health and community impacts of goods movement, please visit the Trade, Health & Environment Impact Project.
"Growing Pains: Health and Community Impacts of Goods Movement and the Ports"
** New: Follow-up Activities **
A Town Meeting held at the
First Congregational Church in Long Beach
241 Cedar Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90802
Friday, February 25, 2005 1:00 – 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, February 26, 2005 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Simultaneous Spanish Interpretation was available.
The side-by-side Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach comprise the largest port complex in the United States and the third-largest port in the world. They are the major “gateway” for imported goods from Asia into the United States. The booming trade may be good for the economy, but it has also made the Ports the region’s number-one single source of air pollution, and it is straining the capacity of dock operations, regional freeways, trucking, rail yards, and the goods movement infrastructure. Meanwhile, the volume of imported cargo containers keeps growing. Both workers and residents are increasingly concerned—about air pollution, health, traffic, economic impacts, the potential for hazardous materials incidents, port security, and their overall “quality of life.”
“Growing Pains” was a Town Meeting that considered the impacts of international trade on the Southern California region, focusing on protecting the health of community members and workers and on improving the “quality of life” in affected communities. The Town Meeting began a process to share information, with the long-term goals of 1) producing momentum to deal with the environmental health challenges of goods movement, 2) sharing local and regional concerns and solutions, 3) considering community and worker concerns when developing scientific research agendas, and 4) having health and safety considerations become an integral component of goods movement and transportation decisions.
Objectives
The objectives of the Town Meeting were to:
- Share results from scientific studies on the health effects of air pollution on children, the elderly, workers, and others
- Provide an opportunity for community members and workers to voice environmental health concerns about goods movement and the Ports, including concerns about air pollution as well as transportation of hazardous materials
- Share information on strategies for reducing exposure to diesel exhaust and other air pollutants
- Provide an opportunity to discuss the policy implications of increased international trade and goods movement on community health and worker safety, as well as on air quality, jobs, the economy, traffic, and community life
- Develop a regional communications network for sharing the latest scientific findings, information on new goods movement infrastructure projects, and environmental health solutions
Attendees participated in discussions of:
- Relevant scientific findings on air pollution and health effects
- Impacts of trade and goods movement on health and air quality, as well as on traffic, jobs, and the economy
- Local and regional impacts from transporting, warehousing, and distributing goods
- Solutions to reduce diesel exhaust and other air pollutants and prevent hazardous materials spills and other incidents
- Ways to share information in the future
Who attended?
- Economists
- Elected officials and government staff
- Health scientists and academic researchers
- Interested residents
- Members of community-based, environmental, and EJ groups
- News media
- Officials and staff from the logistics industry (Ports, railroads, trucking associations)
- Transportation and regional planners
- Labor representatives from the Ports, rail, trucking, and other goods movement industries
Photo Credits:
Girl on bike, Andrea Hricko;
Smokestack, California Air Resources Board;
Young boy with nebulizer, Kris Smith;
Rail yard, Andrea Hricko;
Port, Jesse Marquez
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Building upon the previous 2005 Town Hall Meeting, the "Moving Forward" Conference was held on Friday, November 30 and Saturday, December 1, 2007, at the Carson Community Center in Carson, CA. For more information, please visit the Trade, Health & Environment Impact Project website at www.THEImpactProject.org.
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