S.D. Port to Vote on Clearner Trucks Program Tuesday

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published March 3, 2008 at 9:54 AM PST

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

The Port of San Diego is considering a program to reduce emissions from trucks serving two Port terminals. An environmental group says people in communities near the terminals are at increased risk f

The Port of San Diego is considering a program to reduce emissions from trucks serving two Port terminals. An environmental group says people in communities near the terminals are at increased risk for health problems. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has more.

The Environmental Health Coalition says people living near the terminals in San Diego's Barrio Logan neighborhood and National City face a higher risk for asthma, cancer and higher death rates because of truck exhaust.

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The Port of San Diego is reviewing a voluntary plan to reduce emissions in trucks that service those terminals. But Tony LoPresti with the Environmental Health Coalition wants the Port to make emissions reductions mandatory.

LoPresti: We think it's great that they've started the clean air plan process and that they're focusing on trucks as one of the main sources of pollution. But we think the jury is still out and they're going to need to put some teeth into the program.

He says the Port needs to lay out a funding plan and enforce a mandatory program. Port Commissioners plan to review the clean air draft program tomorrow.

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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