Health Coalition Working to Lessen Port of San Diego Air Pollution

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published October 11, 2007 at 11:54 AM PDT

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

The Environmental Health Coalition is working with the Port of San Diego to clean up the air at port docks. Exhaust from diesel trucks and cruise ships spew toxic air in nearby neighborhoods. KPBS Env

The Environmental Health Coalition is working with the Port of San Diego to clean up the air at port docks. Exhaust from diesel trucks and cruise ships spew toxic air in nearby neighborhoods. KPBS Environmental Reporter Ed Joyce has more.

Tony LoPresti is with the National City-based Environmental Health Coalition. He says the coalition is working with the Port of San Diego to reduce pollution from port operations.

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LoPresti : But we do feel that it's absolutely essential given that the communities of Barrio Logan and National City have been shouldering this burden for so many years that they see some of the benefits that come from the clean air plan.

He says toxic emissions from Port operations harms people living and working in those neighborhoods. LoPresti says a statewide proposition passed last year sets aside money to improve air quality at state ports.

LoPresti : Ports have been hugely unregulated over the years and unfortunately they have become enormous contributors to air pollution in our state.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently awarded the coalition a $50,000 grant. LoPresti says the money will help clean the air at the docks.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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