Has California Hit The Brakes In Regulating Breath-Robbing Big Rigs?

James Lockett, 70, uses his inhaler at his apartment in Oakland. Lockett, who suffers from asthma, says he never leaves home without his inhaler. “If I find I left my inhaler at home, I’m coming back for it,” he said. (Heidi de Marco/California Healthline)

Published: July 18, 2017

By Ngoc Nguyen
Photos by Heidi de Marco

OAKLAND, Calif. — James Lockett sits on his bed and opens the drawer of his nightstand, revealing a stash of asthma inhalers: purple disc-shaped ones he uses twice a day to manage his symptoms and others for full-blown attacks.

Lockett, 70, says he never leaves home without an emergency inhaler.

His senior housing complex in East Oakland is less than a mile from Interstate 880, a major corridor for freight trucks shuttling to and from the Port of Oakland. On the way to factories and warehouses, the trucks often roll through streets near homes, schools and libraries.

The diesel-fueled big rigs are a major source of air pollution, spewing soot and other pollutants that can cause or aggravate respiratory conditions such as asthma and bronchitis.

Just walking while talking on his cellphone can leave him short of breath, Lockett said. “The [asthma] triggers here, without my medications, it would be terrible.”

California has cleaned up its diesel fleet significantly in recent years by phasing out older trucks and requiring operators to install the latest pollution-control equipment. But local air district officials and environmental advocates say more needs to be done and that the emissions goal should be close to zero.

Read the full article at www.khn.org