(The following story by David Danelski appeared on The Press-Enterprise website on May 24.)
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Diesel pollution from Southern California rail yards can significantly increase cancer risks among people who live nearby, according to state findings released Wednesday.
The population living near a rail yard in Commerce, for example, faces a 69 percent greater risk of contracting cancer, which means about 1.7 cancer cases per 1,000 people instead of one case in 1,000.
By comparison, a rail yard in Mira Loma increases the cancer risk among neighbors by 7.5 percent. The research did not assess the effect on the students at Jurupa Valley High School, which is next to the rail yard.
Similar studies on the Inland area’s largest rail yards, which are in Colton and San Bernardino, are expected to be completed before the end of the year.
Officials of the California Air Resources Board, which conducted the studies, said people whose homes are near rail yards face cancer risks that are similar to those of people who live near busy freeways.
Diesel exhaust produced by locomotives, ships, trucks and other heavy machinery is linked to an array of illnesses, including cancer and heart disease. The state study assessed only the cancer risk, using pollution data from the various equipment and residents’ estimated exposure to the diesel soot.
“It is a large increase over the average risk from air pollution” and merits tougher controls, said Mike Scheible, the air board’s deputy executive director.
The agency will seek stricter emissions standards for trucks that serve rail yards and will push the federal government to impose higher standards on locomotives, Scheible said.
A voluntary agreement between the state and railroad companies already calls for phasing out nonessential locomotive idling in train yards and the installation of idling-control devices for California-based locomotives.
Pollution-Cutting Efforts
Gary Rubenstein, an air-pollution consultant for Union Pacific, said the railroad companies expect to cut rail-yard pollution in half by 2020. In the past two years, cleaner locomotives and other measures have reduced pollution by 18 percent, he said.
For example, the railroads worked aggressively to repair older locomotives that produce excessive smoke, various officials said.
In Mira Loma, six modern “green goat” hybrid engines are used for switching train cars in the rail yard. The machines pollute less than traditional yard equipment because they operate similarly to hybrid cars.
Mark Stehly of BNSF Railway said the cancer risks probably are overestimated because they assume a person lives next to a rail yard for 70 years.
Air Resources Board and Union Pacific officials will present the health study’s results at a public meeting this evening in Mira Loma.
Visible Soot
Mira Loma residents have long complained about diesel pollution from the thousands of trucks hauling cargo to and from dozens of huge warehouses.
Pat Delgado, who lives about a quarter-mile from the Mira Loma rail yard, said soot from the locomotive traffic makes a bad situation worse, especially because train traffic has increased in recent years. Visible soot blows from the yard into the neighborhood and onto the high school campus, she said.
“I see the smog, and it is just all around the high school,” she said. “The air is bad enough for us to be thinking about moving.”
The Union Pacific yard specializes in new-car deliveries.
Pollution from the yard would cause an estimated 75 cases of cancer per 1 million people, according to the study.
Sam Atwood, spokesman for the South Coast Air Quality Management District, said factories, power plants and oil refineries are not allowed to increase the health risk by more than 25 cancer cases per 1 million people. For new plants, the limit is 10.
“Not only are these (rail yard) risks very significant, they need to be reduced as rapidly as possible,” Atwood said.
The air district recently lost a legal fight to place strict controls on idling locomotives. The railroads say only the federal government can impose pollution rules on them.
Cancer risk
Increased risk of contracting cancer for people living next to rail yards and ports, based on diesel emissions study by California Air Resources Board.*
Mira Loma rail yard: 7.5 percent greater risk; as far as one mile away: 2 percent
Wilmington rail yard: 14 percent greater risk; as far as one mile away: 2.5 percent
Los Angeles rail yard: 18.4 percent greater risk; as far as one mile away: 7 percent
Commerce rail yards: 69 percent greater risk; as far as one mile away: 22 percent
Long Beach, Los Angeles ports: 120 percent greater risk; as far as one mile away: 75 percent
*Regional background cancer risk: One case per 1,000 people