Planning and Conservation League

CALL TODAY TO TELL YOUR ASSEMBLYMEMBER TO SUPPORT CLEAN AIR AND VOTE FOR SB 974!

After months of waiting, we expect SB 974 (Lowenthal), the Clean Ports Investment Bill, to be voted on in the Assembly ON TUESDAY - JULY 15^TH. SB 974 is the most important piece of legislation currently before the legislature to improve the state's air quality. We need your Assemblymember to vote for this important measure and send it to the Governor.

Please call your Assemblymember TODAY and ask them to vote for SB 974!

By collecting $30 from each shipping container processed at the ports, SB 974 provides a consistent stream of funding to address the air pollution epidemic caused by the movement of goods into our state's three main ports.

Operations at these facilities and related freight transport generate 30% of the statewide emissions of nitrogen oxide (smog-forming pollutants) and 75% of all diesel particulate matter pollution. These pollutants contribute to asthma, respiratory disease, and premature death. In fact, diesel pollution is the worst toxic air contaminant in California, responsible for 70% of the state's air pollution-related cancer risk.

Each year, freight transport pollution causes:

3,700 Californians to die prematurely-(more than 10 a day)
2,830 Californians to be admitted to the hospital-(more than 7 a day)
360,000 Californians to miss work-(more than 1,300 per work day), and
1.1 million California children to miss school-(more than 6,000 per school day).

SB 974 is the best chance we have to raise the necessary funding to bring these numbers down and protect public health.

Your Assemblymember will be voting on SB 974 ON TUESDAY. Please call now and urge them to VOTE YES!

Talking Points for your call:

Please support SB 974 (Lowenthal) - the Clean Ports Investment Bill!

SB 974 offers the only reliable funding source to tackle the critical public health crisis stemming from pollution at the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland.

SB 974 is a fair and constitutional way to ensure those who benefit from the ports and goods movement - the retailers - pay their fair share to clean up their pollution.

SB 974 also ensures that the cost of cleaning up the air pollution is not borne by California residents alone - who currently pay with their lives and lungs. Residents in other states who benefit from the cheap goods moving through our ports will also share in the costs to clean up the pollution. When the fee is passed on to the consumer, that cost only translates, for example, to half a penny for a new pair of shoes.

PCL E-Mail Blast Archive, 2008 -

PCL Insider Archive, 2005 - 2008