Don’t let Pilot Flying J profit by polluting
In support of its proposed truck stop project at the southwestern approach to Santa Fe, the Pilot Flying J company commissioned and paid for an environmental impact report.
That report provides no assessment of the impact diesel truck exhaust will have on our air quality, not in terms of current air quality, not in terms of the projected increases in airborne toxins resulting from the great volume of trucks passing through and idling at the truck stop, nor in terms of the cumulative effect of pollutants on public health. Nothing.
The report just states that the plan “… will meet the requirements of the Clean Air Act.” Which act requirements and how the determination was made that those standards will be met are not reported. It is worth noting, by the way, that the Clean Air Act last had meaningful amendments in 1990 and does not incorporate nearly three decades worth of further scientific research on the health risks posed by air pollution.
It appears that Pilot Flying J is afraid of what the findings of a real study on air pollutants would make clear — that the truck stop would greatly increase the volume of microscopic diesel exhaust particulates in our air. Particulates are tiny airborne particles that are one-thirtieth or less the thickness of a human hair. Inhaling particulate pollution can increase the risk of lung cancer, cause heart attacks, strokes, emergency room visits for asthma sufferers and early death. Particulate inhalation also increases the risk of lower birth weight in newborns.
Among the largest and most dangerous sources of particulates are diesel engines. Diesels generate about 30 times the particulates produced by comparable gasoline engines. Diesel exhaust also has a high volume of dangerous “nanoparticles,” which are incredibly small, from onefive-hundredth to one-hundredthousandth the width of a human hair. In 2017, British researchers found that nanoparticles can pass through the pores of human lung cells, into the bloodstream and be carried to the heart, where they can penetrate and collect in the heart’s fatty tissues. Nanoparticles can also penetrate and collect elsewhere in the body, cause disease, and interfere with body systems and processes.
The people most at risk from diesel pollution from the proposed truck stop would be local residents and schoolchildren, but as the prevailing winds blow from the southwest, these invisible pollutants could be carried across Santa Fe, to the Plaza and beyond. The air quality for everyone in the path of the particulates and nanoparticles would thereby decline.
The New Mexican detailed in an editorial (“Slam the brakes on truck stop,” Our View, Jan. 10) some of the many reasons why the proposed Pilot Flying J is a bad idea and stated that the opponents to the project have it right. Most of us would agree we do need economic development, but not if most of the benefits would be to a huge corporation based in another state, and when the project would be at great cost to public health. And Pilot Flying J won’t be paying the bills for any medical treatment required because of exposure to diesel particles and nanoparticles. Santa Fe County must give a clear and final “No!” to Pilot Flying J on its proposed truck stop, so that we can all breathe a lot easier, now and in the future.
It appears that Pilot Flying J is afraid of what the findings of a real study on air pollutants would make clear.