Goods movement, environmental injustice, and public health issues in West Oakland: Strategies and Solutions

The community of West Oakland has embarked on a steady course of revitalization aimed at sustainable development and public health. In 2002, a community-driven initiative resulted in the report, “Neighborhood Knowledge for Change”, issued by the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project (EIP), putting forward 17 indicators of community health. Since 2002, EPA's Region 9 office has provided support to the EIP Committee and the Pacific Institute in developing a strategy to address the impacts of diesel emissions. One of the biggest contributors to diesel emissions in West Oakland is goods movement particularly activities associated with the Port of Oakland. The Ports' Environment Programs and Planning Division is charged with protecting waterways and human health and safety, but doesn't have the staff, infrastructure and capacity to do proper health risk assessments and doesn't do a good job of informing fence-line communities about their exposure and health risks. All of these developments point to the need for a broad collaborative multi-stakeholder approach to address the environmental and community health problems facing West Oakland.

In this presentation, I will discuss three areas: 1) What the Ports' Environmental Programs and Planning Division is doing to help manage expansion, goods and freight movement, 2) the effectiveness of the Ports' Environmental Programs and Planning Division in protecting the health of local residents and reducing exposure to diesel emissions, and 3) development of action plans and multi-stakeholder collaborative partnerships to reduce the impact of Port facilities on local residents.