Readers React: A dirty trucking industry means dirty air for all of us

To the editor: Thank you for the story on the radical transformation needed in California’s trucking industry. (“To cut smog, radical steps are next,” Oct. 11)

It certainly is good to see this kind of leadership. It gives me hope. But it leaves me with questions as well.

How many of these cancer-producing, smog-belching trucks carry cheap plastic trinkets we could readily live without? How many carry produce from thousands of miles away when we could produce fresher, healthier food closer to home?

Could trains be used effectively to cut down some of the pollution? How can we transform the industry so that it meets our essential needs without poisoning us?

The far-seeing standards, both at the state and federal level, are a good start.

Isabelle Teraoka, Westminster

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To the editor: I appreciate your article highlighting the need to quickly do a lot more to reduce emissions.

Recently, I have been behind numerous school buses belching clouds of bilious black fumes. It seems to me that these vehicles should be role models for clean emissions standards and should receive subsidies for being on the cutting edge of technology.

They are obviously not as numerous as trucks, but there must be thousands of them in the state carrying precious cargo.

Joan E. Stern, Malibu

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To the editor: I am a member of a five-generation family trucking firm established in 1891; we’ve gone from the horse and buckboard to gasoline and now diesel.

After reading your article, the first thing that came to mind was the fact that trucks move 80,000 pounds versus the pulling capacity of the normal car.

We consume more units of power than 20 autos, true, but we deliver more units of social and economic benefit than a fleet of cars. The public may not consider these facts when addressing our industry.

I am not against the green movement, other than the fact that the technology forced on our industry has not been dependable. If the airline industry had been treated like the trucking industry, we would have planes dropping out of the sky.

Tim Fortier, Fresno

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To the editor: As a veteran of the diesel “death zone” wars around the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach since 2000, I will believe this stuff when I see it.

A perfect example is the Port of Los Angeles’ huge proposed rail yard terminal in east Wilmington. The port and BNSF railroad are currently being sued over air pollution issues in the environmental impact report.

In the face of such intransigence, it is hard for me to see how the goals reported in your story will be achieved even in our children’s lifetimes.

My advice is, if you value your health, get out of this air basin.

Noel Park, Rancho Palos Verdes

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