Air Pollution around the i710 Freeway - Term Paper Example

Environmental Studies November 30, Air pollution around the i710 (Long Beach) Freeway Introduction:        The Air pollution is the biggest menace presently faced by the people. The air pollution has becoming one of the biggest dangers for the future of the planet earth, where the people are directly or indirectly the elements of the pollution. There are various evident of air pollutions, which consequently turned to be an environmental hazard. The pollution around the i710 (Long Beach) Freeway is one evident amongst lots. But the precautions and the steps to eradicate them are not much cautiously taken by the people. Infect, they are not aware of the biggest danger, which is going to affect them in the forth coming years. According to Robert Hotz of the Wall Street Journal, "Congested cities are fast becoming test tubes for scientists studying the impact of traffic fumes on the brain" (Coker para. 1). The experience with air pollution can be associated to brain damage, fretfulness, gloominess, dementia and autism and also probably intensify the threat of Alzheimer's disease and fasten the outcome of Parkinson's disease. The latest report of the public-health management and the laboratory studies suggests that, overexposure to impure air has extensively been connected with asthma and elevated rates of cardiac syndrome, malignancy and respiration problems. The West Long Beach Site:        The west long beach, which is identified as an important gift of nature, is a residence to the main drivers of air pollution in southern California. About 29,000 inhabitants and 8 public schools are operating with more than 9,000 students; they are compressed among the 710 freeway to the east. The Long Beach/Los Angeles port compound, the 103 freeways and main oil plant to the west; the 405 freeway to the north; the port and a main engineering to the south. A major producer of air pollution is the harbor compound, which include ships, trains, and trucks. As the basis for more than 40% of the nation’s import, above forty thousand trucks trips a day are required for the movements of the goods from the docks and terminals. “Some trucks head for the massive truck-to-train ‘intermodal’ facility adjacent to Westside area schools, where the containers are transferred to trains running north to the rail yards east of Los Angeles. Other trucks make their way to the I-710 and rail corridor, what residents call “cancer alley,” before hooking into the region’s vast transportation matrix. The research site is highlighted in the map to the right” (Hytrek 5). Air Pollution around the 710 Freeway:        The port of Long Beach are the lone prevalent source of air pollution in southern California leading to increased asthma rates for kids existing in port-adjacent community such as Long Beach, to be approximately twofold as elevated as the rest of the U.S. Pollution associated to the ports and movements of goods in California causes more than 2,500 early deaths per annum and malignancy threat rates up to 20 times superior to central clean air standards. The inhabitants are basically economically backward class. In a current economic study of school absence and ozone stage in Southern California, the researchers identified that $68 million a time can be secured if ozone altitudes in the south Coastal Basins been further minimized, so as to get better with the health matters of the children. Health Impacts of Air Pollution among Children: Air Pollution is found to have an inconsistent effect on inhabitants near the coastal areas, where they belong to the economically weaker class of the society. Children are identified to have census problem and the regular headache and tiredness are the consequences as the result of the same. Children in those areas are prone to be identified with asthma, and other bronchial infections. The children are also found to have diagnosed with the risk of cancer and the risk of experiencing poisonous air contaminants. Various studies have acknowledged that inhabitants living in communities next to ports and congested freeways, who respire air full of contaminated and toxics, have high rates of cancers, cardiovascular infection and condensed lung function. For example, grown-ups, who survive in area where there is congested traffic, have 20-34% bigger risk of constricting lung malignancy.        There are lot of various steps to be carried out by the various authorized agencies like the LBACA, where the” LBACA has been working with the Community Partners Council (CPC), a group of community residents from downtown Long Beach and representatives from community organizations, agencies and local government, to bring the community’s voice to the I-710 expansion debate. In 2001, the I-710 Oversight Policy Committee (OPC) undertook the task of investigating the possibility of ‘improving’ the 710 freeway” (Outdoor Air Pollution). Air Quality and Health Issues: Health Issues/hazards:        The vital issues found in Long Beach were air quality. Whereas the foundation of the study concentrated on people health, observation of air quality and origin of air pollution the results of air pollutants were obviously a chief concern recognized by the review members. When asked to spot the two most important health harms in regard to the 710 long Beach, 38.4% of the answers were regarding the air quality like the air contamination, stinkiness, toxic wastes, smoke, asthma, and the respiratory syndrome. 24% quoted common health issues like the obesity and tumor. Whereas all the other issues joint in were compost in the streets, sound, aggression and dirt, etc. In order to get along with the basic concerns, the survey inquired respondents to point out if adults or kids in the family have suffered from the various kinds of the diseases, which are dreadful like the asthma, bronchitis, cancer etc.        According to the various household data, the consequences illustrate that almost one-third (29%) of the survey family have at least one adult affected with the asthma and 19% of them said they have the child asthma and they  have been identifying the various respiratory problems in the children, which can also further lead to the chronic bronchitis in them. The allergies are also creating much adverse effect on the people. Majority of the people, who were allergy infected constitute to about the 40% among the adults and to 18% in children. The children also face with multiple diseases, which the family find difficult to treat and they also being the financially low class need the huge amounts to conduct various diagnosis and to identify the syndrome. The diseases affecting the adults cause much serious issues in the family as they cannot go for work. They find it hard to meet the livelihood.        Air pollution is one of the biggest threats faced by the people in present day. This will leads to various kinds of danger to the peoples in the society. All these environmental hazards and issues must be abolished in order to overcome the various types of illness faced by the public. Data shows that majority of the peoples are faced various types of diseases like Asthma and various types of allergies. “The siting of hazardous facilities, such as power plants, nuclear waste repositories, and waste incinerators, has always been controversial given the inherent benefits and losses to the populations involved,” says Farmer and Albrecht, in their summary of environmental hazard studies. (Dawson et al). The council of Long Beach City I-710 Oversight Committee was appointed in the year of 2003 June 17, charged with the duty of addressing the important policy matters that the City faces concerning the developments to the I-710 Freeway. This Committee started working with inhabitants and businesses along the I-710 Corridor to build up a solution for developing the I-710 Freeway that serves up both the traveling public and the businesses and inhabitants that are most impacted by the I-710 Freeway. Freeways and redevelopment projects are not the only reason of the division and loss of graciousness that have to tackle every day, but they bear an important share of the blame. “It takes decades of nurturing and living to grow a community. It has taken a century to create this one that Caltrans seeks to roll over with its earth-moving machinery, steel and cement. Make no mistake: If this freeway is built, the community of South Pasadena will be destroyed. People may continue to live there, but the fragile network of relationships, valued images, symbolic places and shared experiences will be broken” (Cooper para. 4). Pros of Expansion of I-710 Freeway (Guiding policies for the expansion of I-710 Freeway): 1. Improve participation of the public in the consideration and growth of alternatives to offer technological assistance to facilitate most efficient public participation. 2. Recognize and reduce the cumulative exposure to poisonous pollutants and various types of noise for neighborhoods in the affected parts. 3. Reduce right-of- method acquisitions to protect existing businesses, housing and open space. 4. Decrease various kinds of pollutions such as air and environmental in the course of aggressive diesel emissions decrease programs and the make use of alternative fuels. 5. Develop safety by decreasing truck/automobile conflicts in the course of improved roadway plan. 6. Reduce congestion by occupying a wide-ranging, regional system approach that consists of transit systems, rail, freeway and roadway Subsequent to hosting numerous community meetings. It turned out to be apparent that the expansion plan of freeway development was just a fraction of the concerns of the inhabitants along the corridor. In the year of 2003 October 23, the I-710 Oversight Committee accepted the various recommendation to speak to and recognize the four key subjects (issues) that the community is most worried about in the course of a series of Community Roundtable Workshops. Those subjects or issues were: Cons of Expansion of I-710 Freeway (Key community concerns and issues): 1. Defeat of Property and impacts of Neighborhood of the community. 2. Various types of Environment and Health issues and Noises. 3. Truck Congestion, security and Impacts 4. Various issues related to Port. Design Concepts to Develop the I-710 Freeway: 1. Get rid of preventable truck ramps at the 91 Freeway interchange to reduce right-of-way impacts. 2. Make use of the space among the existing freeway and the Los Angeles River to add capability and reduce right-of-way impacts. 3. Divide cars from trucks at-grade for enlarged security wherever possible, and build elevated structures only when essential to reduce right-of-way impacts. 4. Alter existing freeway on- and off-ramps to make use of “diamond” designs, where possible to reduce right-of-way impacts and develop opportunities for green space. 5. Get rid of the Terminal Island Freeway expansion to the I-710 Freeway. 6. Redesign the Shoemaker Bridge and rearrange in a line the ramps into downtown Long Beach to develop Cesar Chavez Park.        Communities are units of the social body into which kids are born, grow up and build up a well sense of who they are and where they are in this confused world. Communities are where very youthful citizens and mature adults study the skills of nationality. There is no alternate that will serve these reasons as well. “The Gateway council made its first request to transportation officials to expand the 710 Freeway in 1999, and formal planning began a year later. But the process stalled in the spring of 2003, when residents learned that up to 800 homes could be demolished, and they accused officials of ignoring health concerns. The council then launched an elaborate process for community input” (Schoch). New plans, meanwhile, call for the destruction of merely five residential buildings and 61 manufacturing or commercial structures. Transportation representatives says that society health concerns will be addressed as division of the environmental review procedure, which could started  next year and obtain three to four years, at a price of $35 million to $40 million.  Work Cited Coker, Matt. Freeway Pollution Linked to Brain Damage, Autism. OCWeekly. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. Cooper, Terry L. 710 Freeway Extension: In South Pasadena, Mourning the Loss of Community: Trees and Houses are Symbols of Something Far More Important than Closing a Gap in a Map. Los Angeles Times. 1993. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. < http://articles.latimes.com/1993-11-22/local/me-59572_1_south-pasadena> Dawson et al. Understanding Rural Community Conflict Using Network Analysis: A Case Study of a Proposed Coal-Fired Power Plant in the Southwestern United States. Sociology Doctoral Student. n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. Hytrek, Gary. Health Risks and Perceptions of Air Quality: The West Long Beach Health Survey. California State University. Department of Sociology. n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. Outdoor Air Pollution. Policy Formation and Environment. 2007. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. < http://www.lbaca.org/PolicyFormation/outdoor.html> Schoch, Deborah. MTA Votes to Expand the 710 Freeway. Los Angeles Times. 2005. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. < http://articles.latimes.com/2005/jan/28/local/me-freeway28>     Read More