(The following column by Cassie Macduff appeared on the The Press-Enterprise website on November 7, 2009.)
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — When the intermodal rail yard came to San Bernardino in 1996, it was hailed as an economic engine.
It would bring jobs to replace the thousands lost when BNSF moved its repair shops to Kansas in 1992.
San Bernardino was suffering from the closure of Norton Air Force Base and needed to reverse the plummeting employment.
That the rail yard would be on the impoverished Westside was even better.
But like a Trojan horse, the rail yard carried a hidden peril. Diesel soot from locomotives and big rigs converging on the 165-acre site brought toxic chemicals and dangerous particles that penetrate deep into the lungs.
Just how pervasive the toxic smoke is was measured only last year. The shocker: The San Bernardino rail yard was the most polluted in the state. People living nearby were exposed to cancer risk 2.5 times higher than the second-worst yard, in Commerce.
The silver lining: The shock mobilized residents, elected officials, regulators and an environmental justice group to form a task force to tackle the problem.
Today, task force members are pooling resources, sharing information and working on ways to keep pollutants out of homes and other measures.
Last week, two universities announced studies that will focus on the neighborhood.
Loma Linda University School of Public Health will review hospital records to see how often children from the area are admitted with severe asthma.
The school’s Department of Environmental and Occupational Health is funding the study because, as Chairman Sam Soret said, it’s too important to wait.
The school also would like to survey the health histories and respiratory health of 7,000 people who live in the immediate area.
In addition, a UCLA scientist will study diesel soot falling on the neighborhood for chemical fingerprints of the toxic compounds in order to pinpoint their sources.
Measuring equipment was installed in the neighborhood last week, said Penny Newman, who heads the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice.
Economist John Husing cautioned that environmental concerns must be balanced with job creation. The intermodal facility, where freight is transferred from trucks to trains, has attracted warehouses and distribution centers to the region and those now employ more than 120,000 people.
“It is a crucial piece of the infrastructure that has brought the … distribution economy to the Inland Empire,” he said.
Meanwhile, the railroad is working on the problem, too. BNSF voluntarily upgraded locomotives and other equipment to cut emissions in half, spokeswoman Lena Kent said. The health risk now should be lower than the study said.
Finally, the California Air Resources Board is exploring ways it can help reduce the cancer risk around the intermodal yard.
That’s good. Health and jobs shouldn’t be mutually exclusive.