Air Quality in the March ARB Corridor:

1
Air Quality in the March ARB Corridor Land Use
is a Health Issue Catherine
Barrett-Fischer Community Alliance for
Riversides Economy and Environment (CAREE)
2
Riverside County

• Has the highest levels of PM in the nation.1
• 4th in the world
• Jakarta, Indonesia
• Calcutta, India and
• Bangkok, Thailand.2

1 South Coast Air Quality Management District,
Multiple Air Toxics Exposure Study in the South
Coast Air Basin (MATES II Study), March 2000.
2 World Health Organization, as cited by
California Public Interest Research Group,
CalPIRG, Citizens Agenda, Vo. 13, No. 3 pg 4,
Fall 1997.
3
Particulate Air PollutionParticulate Matter (PM)

• PM are small particles of soot, dust, and
  chemicals suspended in the air, that get deep
  into the lungs and are difficult to expel causing
  irritation and inflammation of the lungs.

4
Becky Hageman/The Press Enterprise, August 25,
2002
The smaller the particle (ltPM 2.5) the deeper
they get into the lungs and the more damage they
do.
5
March ARB
South Coast Air Quality Management District Air
Monitoring Network, 1999.
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DIESELDiesel emissions are not only the
smallest of these particles (gt2.5 microns and
ultrafine particles--diesel aerosols) they are
extremely toxic and cancer causing.
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Diesel Exhaust

• 450 different chemical compounds
• 40 are known to cause cancer
• Toxic substance

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Diesel Exhaust itself is a known carcinogen

• Diesel exposure is linked to
• respiratory disease,
• asthma,
• cardiac deaths,
• increased hospitalizations, and
• birth defects.

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DUST IRRITATES DIESEL KILLS
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PM
Car accidents
Murders
AIDS
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Children are More Susceptible to Pollution

• Growing very fast
• Lungs are developing quickly
• Outside more
• Breath more air

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Health Affects on Children

• Our Air Pollution levels
• Like living with a smoker
• Causes inflammation of the lungs
• Decrease lung growth / decrease in lung function
• Air pollution causes asthma

13
Cancer Risk and Children

• Children in our area reach their 70-year lifetime
  cancer risk within
• the first 12 days of life.

National Environmental Trust Toxic Beginnings
Cancer Risks to Children From Californias Air
Pollution, September, 2002.
14
School Absences and Air Pollution

• Sore throats, coughs, asthma, bronchitis, etc.
• School Absence doubles

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Costs of Pollution

• 67 million per year in costs associated with
  school absences
• 136.7 Million lost annually in Riverside and San
  Bernardino

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...Our goal is to protect communities and their
environment, while maximizing economic return
through land use policies which promote the
highest possible use
17
Proposed March Business Center
I-215
Warehouses
Van-Buren Blvd.
Source www.marchjpa.com, March Business Center
Specific Plan, Fig. II-4
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Aerial Photos of Mira Loma area CCAEJ
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Aerial Photos of Mira Loma area CCAEJ
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Aerial Photos of Mira Loma area CCAEJ
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It is clear Land Use Decisions Impact the
Communitys
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Air Quality
Aerial Photos of Mira Loma area CCAEJ
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And Health
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If we have diesel sources, the best thing we can
do is to keep them 500 meters away from people.

• Mike Nazemi, AQMD Mira Loma Community Committee
  presentation, August 29, 2002

25
1500 feet
SCAQMD Mira Loma Specific Air Management
Project, 2002. Presentation by Mike Nazemi
before the Mira Loma Community Committee. August
29, 2002.
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Proximity of Schools to Van Buren Boulevard
Ben Franklin
Amelia Earhart
Tomas Rivera
Martin Luther King, Jr. HS
Woodcrest Christian
At least 5 schools are within 500 meter danger
zone of this potentially dangerous truck corridor
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2 High Schools along this route -- Martin Luther
King, Jr. and Woodcrest Christian School
Homes
Concept of Van Buren Boulevard serving warehouses
along I-215/March corridor
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Inappropriate Land Use Leads to

• Destroying the economic and environmental value
  of resource lands (i.e. Agricultural areas)
• Creating an inefficient land use pattern that is
  very expensive to serve
• Threatening economic viability by defusing
  public infrastructure investments
• Destroying the intrinsic visual and functional
  character of the suburban and rural landscape
• And, eroding a sense of community.

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Beautiful, open space views in our area today...
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contrasted to the views we would have if
proposed March JPA plans are completed
Warehouse
Photos of Homestead Residential tract, Mira
Loma CCAEJ
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Possible Alternative Land Uses for March Business
Park

• High-end Office Buildings
• Light Manufacturing

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Business Park
Electricians
Furniture
Plumbers
Other services for the expanding community
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Recreational Uses

• Equestrian facilities
• Regional park with multi-use facilities which can
  accommodate regional little league, soccer,
  football...
• Pedestrian/hiking/fitness trails

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An opportunity for...

• Environmentally-proactive businesses
• wind and solar power
• alternative fuel vehicle facilities (electric,
  hybrid, or hydrogen)
• Environmentally- friendly construction
• passive active solar
• recycled building materials

A New Cash Crop
Sierra Magazine, July/August 2002 Issue, pg. 37.
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Criteria for Livable Communities

• Revitalizing existing communities
• Expanding economic opportunity
• Improving the environment, public health and
  quality of life
• Protecting open spaces
• Enhancing sustainable economic viability of
  community
• Improving roads and services
• Improving schools and making them the center of
  communities
• Building upon existing community assets.

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Riverside County Planning Commission

• On November 13, 2002, RCPC voted UNANIMOUSLY to
  deny a new warehouse project, based on air
  quality studies.
• Key comments were
• We need to err on the side of caution.
• There is clearly a health risk.
• The overwhelming evidence is that diesel exhaust
  endangers the public.
• The commission had previously said that how they
  vote on this warehouse can predict how they will
  vote on ALL the other warehouse projects.

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• Given the new information on health status,
  everyone is coming to the same conclusions.
• There are no overriding considerations.
• The RCPC has reviewed all the studies and
  attended all the workshops.
• Lets follow their lead.

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No More Warehouses