Port of San Diego Asks For State Funding to Reduce Diesel Emissions

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published March 7, 2008 at 8:09 AM PST

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

The Port of San Diego is moving ahead with plans to clean up the air at two port terminals. People living nearby have complained that diesel exhaust from trucks and ships increases their risk for heal

The Port of San Diego is moving ahead with plans to clean up the air at two port terminals. People living nearby have complained that diesel exhaust from trucks and ships increases their risk for health problems. KPBS reporter Ed Joyce has more.

The Port of San Diego is asking for state money to reduce diesel emissions at its terminals in San Diego's Barrio Logan neighborhood and National City.

The Port is applying for a state grant to retrofit older-model trucks servicing the terminals. The retrofit reduces the amount of diesel particulates that foul the air. The Port is also working on a system to reduce emissions from cargo and cruise ships.

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The Port's Marguerite Elicone says another state grant would help pay for shore-side power for those vessels.

Elicone : Instead of sitting there with its engine running diesel fuel, it will have to shut off and plug into power that’s on the shore. So that it will be cleaner power instead of diesel fuel being emitted into the air.

She says state law will require Port's to have shore-side power by 2014. But Elicone says if the grant funds are approved the Port could install the system much sooner.

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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