The exhaust fumes from the highways surrounding her neighborhood have finally let up, and Gordon hears fewer trucks leaving the nearby Port of Oakland each day as the coronavirus pandemic reduces traffic.
There’s no vaccination for air pollution,” said Gordon, who co-founded the West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project to study the health effects of industry on the high-population area.
Kate Munsch for HuffPost
The Port of Oakland, a major container port on the West Coast, contributes to air pollution in the adjacent neighborhood of West Oakland.
Inaction from the port has meant that West Oakland continues to face heavy air pollution, acutely dangerous now in light of the connection between pollution and COVID-19 deaths.
In a letter to Newsom, the president of California’s Chamber of Commerce requested that the process for developing new regulations on businesses be postponed due to the health crisis ― including regulations on at-berth vessels and clean trucks, both of which affect the health of the West Oakland community.
