Date of Award
Spring 2006
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Public Administration (MPA)
Abstract
In August 1998, the California Air Resources Board identified diesel particulate-matter as a toxic air contaminant. In addition to the identification, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment found that exposures to diesel particulate-matter (diesel PM) resulted in increased risk of cancer and an increase in chronic noncancer health effects including a greater incidence of cough, labored breathing, chest tightness, wheezing, and bronchitis (DRRP, 2000). Though federal, state, and local regulatory endeavors are active towards minimizing diesel PM exposure, such endeavors typically involve a resolution requiring an implementation time frame of five to ten years that may not necessarily address localized exposure.
This paper investigates the current health impacts of diesel particulate-matter exposure from heavy-duty diesel trucks transporting containers from the Port of Long Beach on a specific neighborhood along the 710 corridor. The current health assessment will be correlated with the number of trucks traveling within a one-mile radius of the neighborhood as well as the diesel PM emitted. This paper also investigates the feasibility of modernizing the heavy-duty diesel trucks that conduct container movement operations to 2003-model-year-engines by 2010. The subsequent health benefits from fleet modernization by residents near the Port of Long Beach will be realized.
Recommended Citation
Kato, John, "Reducing the Localized Cancer Risk: Determining the Feasibility for Reducing Diesel Particulate-Matter Emissions from Heavy-duty Diesel Trucks in Containerized Movement Operations Near the Port of Long Beach" (2006). EMPA Capstones. 167.
https://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/capstones/167