Port of Oakland gravel facility would worsen air quality

The Port of Oakland will soon decide whether to allow an open-air rock-and-gravel storage facility on land next to the West Oakland community. The port’s operations contribute significantly to air pollution. West Oakland residents will suffer even worse air quality if this project is approved as proposed.

As residents who have long engaged with port officials to address a wide variety of planning and operational issues, we have never been more concerned. Our neighbors suffer dramatically higher rates of respiratory and cardiovascular disease, cancer and premature death than found in more affluent parts of Oakland. A 2018 study that used localized data — down to specific streets — showed elderly residents living in areas of West Oakland with the highest concentrations of air pollution were 40% more likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke than those who lived in less polluted parts of the neighborhood.

Welcoming another polluting tenant is exactly the wrong thing for the port to do.

In 2017, our environmental justice organization, West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, brought a complaint under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act against the port for its longstanding pattern of environmentally racist practices. In response, the port agreed to implement a public engagement plan that was supposed to reduce its impacts on our neighborhood. But that effort has not created meaningful change in the port’s attitude or actions.

Eagle Rock Aggregates approached the port for permission to create a massive openair aggregate storage facility, where huge piles of sand and rock would blow small particulates into the air we breathe. The port is planning to allow massive diesel ships to idle at the terminal, spewing pollutants, instead of requiring cleaner engines and onshore power. The aggregate facility would require eliminating 18 acres of truck parking. Just like the fine particles that will soon be blowing our way, these trucks will increase traffic, spew exhaust and congest our streets as they struggle to park.

Port officials have been notified not just by community groups like ours but also by the California Attorney General’s Office, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the California Air Resources Board that the environmental studies for this project are fatally flawed. Nevertheless, the port has signaled it plans to approve the project.

There are a lot of things the Port of Oakland could be doing right now to improve air quality. Just look at the Port of San Diego, which recently adopted an aggressive clean-air strategy to reach 100% zero-emissions trucks and cargo-handling equipment by 2030. At the Port of Long Beach, officials are actively planning for a zero-emissions fleet of trucks and other equipment by 2035. The Port of Oakland should be taking similar actions to clean up its act, but instead it stalls with halfmeasures and continues polluting.

For West Oakland residents, the time to stop kicking the can down the road was yesterday. We’re done with the port’s lip service and lack of action.

If the Eagle Rock project moves forward, it will mean more than another round of broken promises to today’s West Oakland residents. Our children and our grandchildren will be saddled with poorer air quality and higher rates of disease than nearly anyone else in the state.

It’s time for the Port of Oakland to start doing the hard work required so that Oakland can reap the economic benefits of an active port without continuing to overburden its most vulnerable residents with air pollution. Say no to the Eagle Rock Aggregate Terminal project. The port has an opportunity to be a better neighbor. It should take it.

Margaret Gordon and Brian Beveridge are co-directors of the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project, a resident-led, communitybased environmental justice organization dedicated to achieving healthy homes, healthy jobs and healthy neighborhoods.