April-July 2006 -
In This Issue
 Get Off the Bus: School Transport Hazardous to Children's Health
Yearning to Breathe Free: Childhood Asthma Risks
Higher Standards: EPA Must Refine Petroleum Regulations
Iron Rule: Cleaning Up Toxic Discharges Into Our Waterways
Thanks to Our Lawyers and Community Partners for Your Help!
Get Off the Bus: School Transport Hazardous to Children's Health
OCE is doing its part to make cleaner transportation a reality for school children across the country. Currently, diesel school buses provide an unacceptable increased exposure to cancer-causing pollutants for millions of children every day.
In early May, Our Children's Earth Foundation (OCE) and the Environmental Law Foundation (ELF) filed suit in San Francisco to protect children from diesel engine exhaust in school buses. The lawsuit was filed under California's Proposition 65 - the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 - against Laidlaw Transit Inc., the largest private school bus contractor in North America. The environmental justice groups sought a court order for Laidlaw to provide warnings about the harmful effects of the buses' diesel engine exhaust by the start of the next school year.
Diesel exhaust is classified as a toxic air contaminant by the State of California and by the U.S. EPA under the Clean Air Act. In over two dozen studies, exposure to diesel exhaust has been demonstrated to increase cancer risk. California's South Air Coast Air Quality Management District estimated that 90% of the cancer risk from air pollutants in the area, and 70% state-wide, is associated with diesel emissions.
Given a child's developing immunity, narrower airways and faster metabolism, children are the most susceptible to the hazards of diesel exhaust. Children's exposure to diesel exhaust can pose a cancer risk that is 23 to 46 times higher than the risk levels considered "significant" under federal law.
In California, roughly one million children ride to school every day on diesel-powered buses. A child riding inside a diesel school bus may be exposed to as much as 4 times the level of toxic diesel exhaust as someone riding in a car along the same route. The average diesel bus emits nearly twice as much pollution per mile as a big rig truck.
Students spend an hour and a half each weekday in a school bus, which means the average child riding to and from school can be exposed to 270 hours of elevated levels of diesel exhaust per year. Over 12 to 13 years, that amounts to 3,500 hours of breathing elevated levels of a known carcinogen.
Studies by the California Air Resources Board and others have established that much of a bus' own diesel exhaust enters the cabin from cracks in the exhaust train and through windows and doors. While some school districts have taken the initiative to modernize their school bus fleets, even those buses equipped with the latest "clean diesel" technology do not eliminate the problem of self-pollution. Commuting on diesel buses still exposes children to more pollutants than the outside air. Reports have shown that opening the windows halved the levels of many pollutants that children breathe inside the bus cabin.
Federal, state and local governments have set aside funds to help public and private school fleet operators cover the costs of purchasing and implementing cleaner transportation solutions, including the use of compressed natural gas engines. However, these funding sources are still limited, and parents, educators and school administrators need to pressure their elected officials to make replacement of old, dirty diesel school buses a top budgetary priority.
Laidlaw has been the focus of the OCE and ELF lawsuit, because its policies and practices are a bellwether for the school bus industry as a whole. Commissioner Eric Mar of the San Francisco School Board said, "The School Board faces many challenges, but nothing is more important than the health of our students. [They] and their parents have a right to know they are being exposed to chemicals that the State has identified as [cancer-causing]. Armed with this information, parents and children will demand a cleaner environment."
In June, with the support of OCE and ELF, the San Francisco United School District gave a positive recommendation to require adequate warnings to parents and children riding diesel buses. The school district also seeks to comply with strict 2007 California clean air emission standards by obtaining an entirely new bus transportation fleet of 200 "green diesel" vehicles, including 60 large buses with Laidlaw.
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Yearning to Breathe Free: Childhood Asthma Risks
The road less traveled makes all the difference for childhood respiratory ailments, as reported in a new health study titled " Traffic, Susceptibility, and Childhood Asthma." Researchers conclude that living in a residence with more nearby traffic increases the risk of childhood asthma.
In the May issue of Environmental Health Perspectives , researchers from the Department of Preventive Medicine at the University of Southern California report that residence near a major road is associated with asthma risks for young children. The study examined the characteristics that might increase childhood susceptibility to the effects of traffic-related air pollution, including parental history of asthma, child age at exposure, and gender. Evaluations found that residence within 75 meters (about 250 feet) of a major road was associated with an increased risk of lifetime asthma, prevalent asthma, and wheeze. Susceptibility increased in long-term residents with no parental history of asthma, accounting for 59% of childhood asthma cases among those living near a major road. Moreover, a larger risk for asthma associated with long-term residence was observed among girls than boys. The higher risk of asthma near a major road decreased to background rates at 150-200 meters (about 500-650 feet) from the road. Interestingly, for children who moved to a residence near a major road after 2 years of age, there was no appreciable indication of increased asthma risk, suggesting that vulnerability to effects of air pollution may occur during the prenatal period or infancy. Because a substantial number of southern California children live near a major road, exposure to traffic pollutants is potentially an important public health concern. The issue can be remedied by transportation and residential development policy, as well as more effective control of vehicular emissions.
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Higher Standards: EPA Must Refine Petroleum Regulations
Petroleum refineries will have to meet stricter clean air standards, thanks to a court decree that settles a lawsuit by OCE and Sierra Club against the Environmental Protection Agency.
In April, a court decree settled a lawsuit filed by Our Children's Earth and Sierra Club against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for failing to update air pollution standards for petroleum refineries. The EPA set standards for petroleum refineries in 1995, but it did not review and update the standards in 2003 as required by the Clean Air Act. This lapse has allowed existing refineries to operate without installing newer technology that would protect local communities by reducing air pollution.
According to EPA's own data, petroleum refineries produce more than 49 million pounds of hazardous pollutants like benzene and toluene each year. This type of air pollution has been associated with health problems ranging from cancer to upper respiratory disorders, killing more than 30,000 people last year alone.
The recent court settlement, coming out of San Francisco, requires the EPA to propose revisions to the air pollution standards for petroleum refineries within one year and to finalize the standards within two years.
"This is a definite win for the community, because any reasonable person updating these standards knows that air pollution control technology has been improved by leaps and bounds over the past 10 years," said OCE executive director Tiffany Schauer.
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Iron Rule: Cleaning Up Toxic Discharges Into Our Waterways
Scrap metal facilities can contribute a significant amount of toxic metals to storm water runoff if proper structural controls and management practices are not in place. In a settlement with Standard Iron and Metal Co., OCE is helping to clean up the ecosystem of San Francisco Bay.
In April of last year, OCE had filed a lawsuit against Standard Iron and Metal Co., alleging that in its normal course of operation Standard released harmful substances and toxic pollutants into waters that discharge into San Francisco Bay. Water samples of storm water runoff from Standard Iron's facility showed high levels of heavy metals including aluminum, lead, copper, iron and zinc. The consensus among water quality specialists is that storm water pollution accounts for more than half of the total pollution entering the marine environment each year.
As part of the settlement agreement for violating its storm water permit, Standard Iron has agreed to implement a variety of measures to help keep pollution sources away from exposure to rainfall. In addition to installing structural controls and adopting storm water management techniques to reduce pollutants running off from its scrap metal facility, Standard will also contribute funds to a local environmental foundation in support of efforts to clean up San Francisco Bay. It's a welcome example of business moving in the right direction - not just to meet the requirements of the law, but to protect the environment on which we all depend.
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Thanks to Our Lawyers and Community Partners for Your Help!
Altshuler, Berzon, Nussbaum, Rubin & Demain
American Lung Association
A Walk in the Woods
Bay Area Clean Air Task Force
Bayveiw Hunters Point Community Advocates
Bushnell, Caplan, & Fielding
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
Marc S. Chytilo
Clean Air Council
Clean Water Action
Coalition for Mercury-Free Dentistry
Communities for a Better Environment
Earth justice Legal Defense Fund
Ecological Rights Foundation
Environmental Advocates
Environmental Defense
Environmental Integrity Project
Environmental Law Foundation
Environmental Working Group
Get Oil Out
Golden Gate University Environmental Law & Justice Clinic
Matthew Hagemann
George Hays
Hilton Kelley
Latino Issues Forum
Planning and Conservation League
Montana Environmental Information Center
William Moore
National Parks Conservation Association
Natural Resources Defense Council
Nevada Environmental Coalition, Inc.
Northwest Environmental Defense Center
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles
Santa Barbara ChannelKeeper
Sierra Club
Chris Sproul
Transportation Solutions Defense and Education Fund
Union of Concerned Scientists
Urban Habitat, a project of the Tides Center
Reed Zars
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