Dear Mayor Karen Bass, Mayor Richardson and Southern California leaders,

From the ships leaving from our backyards or coming from overseas, to the trucks and trains driving daily through our communities, the burning of fossil fuels is present at every step in the movement of goods — and Black and Brown, working-class frontline communities are left to deal with the negative impacts.

The San Pedro Bay Port Complex is the largest source of smog and particulate-forming pollution statewide. About 30% of the entire nation’s imports and exports is handled here, which has adversely contributed to some of the nation’s most dangerous air quality. Globally, ship and port emissions contribute to an estimated 250,000 premature deaths and 6 million cases of childhood asthma each year. Locally, Los Angeles County residents in port-adjacent communities experience up to eight years shorter life expectancy than the county average, and the fossil-fueled San Pedro Bay port complex is known to cause at least 1,200 premature deaths every year. Just like dirty shipping pollution, railyard pollution is a public health crisis, as diesel exhaust is a known human carcinogen and toxic air contaminant that plagues frontline communities with various health and respiratory diseases.

In your campaigns, you stated that you would address decades of environmental injustice that have been felt by port-adjacent communities.

Mayor Richardson, you campaigned on accelerating and implementing the City’s Climate Action and Adaptation Plan. You’ve acknowledged that working-class families and communities of color in West, Central and North Long Beach have been burdened by the detrimental health impacts caused by port and rail pollution, resulting in up to a 17-year difference in life expectancy simply due to which part of the city your constituents call home. You promised to prepare Long Beach for a climate-resilient future that is not dependent on oil revenue, and where all neighborhoods have access to clean air to breathe, unpolluted water and toxic-free homes. As Mayor, you ensured that you would prioritize implementing policies that promote green technologies and combat environmental racism, such as those requiring cleaner technologies for ships. As a former South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) governing board member — who advocated for the implementation of a historic warehouse indirect source rule that will clean up the logistic industry — we know you understand the importance of these rules for cleaning up our air and that you are committed to protecting air quality for all people living in the Southern California air basin.

Mayor Bass, you committed to cleaning up the port and achieving 100% zero emissions for all port operations by 2030. We are less than six years away from your 100% ZE port goals, and our frontline port-adjacent communities are calling on you to stick to your promises. We need you to work with the SCAQMD to implement strong Ports and Rail Indirect Source Rules that will create safe and healthy communities for our port-adjacent residents.

Our communities can’t continue to rely on voluntary measures — nor should we be forced to wait for clean air. For far too long, the oil and gas industry has been allowed to prioritize its profits without caring about the web of harm it creates in our communities and environment. We are calling on you, Mayor Richardson, Mayor Bass and Southern California leaders, to help protect our frontline and fenceline communities by urging SCAQMD to champion a policy that will drastically improve the health of port-adjacent communities, wildlife and the environment, setting us up for a climate-resilient future.

Thank you for your thoughtful consideration.