Damaging Air Quality and Endangering Truckers
Stop the “Gravel” Trucks: Diesel Exhaust Linked To Cancer
AN ARTICLE THAT JUST APPEARED IN SCIENCE DAILY CONFIRMS SOME OF OUR GREATEST FEARS.
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- Diesel exhaust poses health hazard
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- accident last month on the 33
(overturned gravel truck on Maricopa Highway, August 2009)
Damage to our air quality is one of the reasons the Coalition has been opposed to gravel trucks traveling through the Ojai Valley on their way from the Cuyama valley to Oxnard and Ventura. Ojai has what is known as a “closed” air shed, which means that pollutants collect here in the valley and remain trapped. Despite appearances that might suggest otherwise, Ojai has some of the worst air quality in the County.
Scientists have demonstrated that the link between diesel fume exposure and cancer lies in the ability of diesel exhaust to induce the growth of new blood vessels that serve as a food supply for solid tumors.
…Read more at the OJAI POST
And more insight from a member of the Coalition to Stop the Trucks:
NOBODY is against the truckers OR the trucking industry. It is quite the opposite in fact. The coalition wishes to protect not only the forest, the air quality in Ojai and anybody wishing to use Highway 33, we are also hoping to save the lives of the truckers.
The overturned double-hopper gravel truck from just two weekends ago could VERY well have resulted in a trucker fatality. NOT to mention a motorist or bicyclist. He claimed he was only going 35 mph and I believe him but what it says is that the road is unsafe at ANY speed for these large vehicles. In fact, we’ve measured the inside of the tunnels and it is true that two trucks, going in opposite directions cannot fit. It is an accident waiting to happen! And the gravel that spills from the truck has resulted in many, many accidents according to police reports…
Our hope is to slow down mine expansions and re-route the truck traffic to the established truck route…Highway 166 that leads directly to the 5 Freeway. Volunteers driving the various routes tell us that given the amount of braking that takes place on those hairpin corners on Highway 33, it would probably be faster (and less wear and tear on the trucks) to go the other, safer route.
So why do they continue to use Highway 33? Even after CalTrans has admitted that it is insanity to use that road for truck traffic? It is because there is no monitoring…truckers self-load, overload and then head on down and nobody does anything to regulate the situation.
We don’t wish to stop commerce or prevent the truckers from doing their job. We just believe that it is possible to do that in a way that will not destroy this beautiful scenic highway and destroy the air quality and peace and quietude that makes Ojai the Shangri-la that it is. Nobody in our group resents truckers!
