Toxic pollution stemming from the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and spread throughout the byways of goods movement translate into a region with the second highest particulate matter levels in the U.S. (footnotes American Lung Association, 30 April 2008 report), sky-high cancer rates, “extreme” non-attainment status for federal clean air standards, and a hotspot of carbon dioxide emissions as seen from global maps.  The Ports are the nexus of an expansive goods movement infrastructure in Southern California which also includes rail yards, truck distribution centers, massive warehousing complexes, and the development of a so-called “inland port” in the Riverside and San Bernardino counties connected to the seaside Ports by a system of rail, trucks, and intermodal facilities.

The health and demographic profile of local communities such as Wilmington, San Pedro, Long Beach, Carson, Commerce, Riverside, and Mira Loma, which sit either next to the Ports themselves or next to goods movement arteries, rail yards, or mega-clusters of distribution centers, are the very picture of environmental injustice.  Communities that are socially and economically vulnerable are also those that are most vulnerable to the environmental damages from goods movement.

In Southern California, and elsewhere, cleaner, sustainable and eventual zero-carbon and non-polluting goods movement solutions cannot be made piecemeal.  Employing the cleanest available trucks is but one strong step towards port and goods movement-wide change.  Cleaner fuels and technology must be employed also within ships, rail, cargo handling equipment, refrigerated cargo containers, and harbor craft.  And the regional infrastructure—railways, waterways, freeways, bridges, intermodal container yards, rail yards—all must be planned and designed to support green and renewable fuels and technologies.