Clear View of Dirty Air
AQMD Kicks Off MATES III Air Pollution Study
By Coby Skye, Environmental Reporter 

     By now, many Harbor Area residents have become familiar with the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) cancer risk assessment map, highlighting the high-risk “diesel death zone”  due to the Port and the 710 and 110 Freeways.  The map (see p. 7) is a result of the MATES (Multiple Air Toxics Exposure Study)-II study, which AQMD is about to update with MATES-III, to get a more current picture of the air quality in our region.
     MATES-II was completed in 2001 and released to the public in 2002, but the underlying data was collected a year or two earlier, so the information is beginning to get dated.
     AQMD executive officer Barry Wallerstein said, “This study will help us gauge the effectiveness of our current regulations and serve as a vital tool in helping shape future air quality and environmental justice policies.”  The AQMD relies on studies such as MATES to draft policy and regulations in order to meet Federal and State mandates for air quality improvements.
     Despite stringent regulations aimed at reducing the emissions of stationary and mobile pollution sources, Southern California continues to have some of the worst air quality in the country, and the MATES-II study helped identify some of the largest pollution sources.  One such revelation was that 70 percent of the regional airborne cancer risk is due to diesel particulate emissions.  This has given tremendous impetus to clean up diesel engines, used ubiquitously in transportation and industry by land, sea and air, in both mobile and stationary uses.
     Although MATES-III methodology will be largely identical to MATES-II, data will be collected from more monitoring sources.  AQMD spokesman Sam Atwood confirmed that a number of mobile monitoring sources, called “micro-scale” monitors, will be stationed in various “hot spots” around the region.  A technical committee will help advise the AQMD regarding the location of these micro-scale” monitors, which will be stationed in one place for a couple of months at a time.  These, in addition to the existing network of permanent air quality sensors monitored by the AQMD, will expand the understanding of toxic air contaminants in the South Coast Air Basin.
     Most community activists working on air pollution-related issues are pleased with the follow-up to MATES-II.  Dr. John Miller, board certified emergency physician who lives in San Pedro and practices at Kaiser in Anaheim, feel it is “critically important to study diesel particulates.”  Dr. Miller, who completed a residency in radiation oncology, is glad that studies like MATES-II have raised the consciousness of the community to the dangerous impacts of diesel pollution in the region and its link to cancer.  But he was quick to point out that the non-cancer affects of diesel pollution are even more devastating.  Diseases like asthma, emphysema and cardio-pulmonary disease affect more people and lead to more deaths, and should be studied in great detail so that residents can protect their families.
     Other activists feel studying the problem isn’t enough, and are disappointed that more concrete actions haven’t been taken in the face of staggering impacts already identified.  Gordon LaBedz, M.D., a physician who lives in Long Beach and current Conservation Chair of the Southern California Sierra Club, insists more should be done immediately to stem the tide of “death and disease” already caused by port-related pollution.
     “You don’t have to have a Ph.D. to know that black soot in the air is not healthy,” says LaBedz. “These studies are nothing more than delaying tactics by cowardly government agencies afraid to say no to the filthy smoke stacks that cause our children to die from asthma.”
     The AQMD contends it does intend to use the study to refine its policies and develop additional regulations.  The study is already underway, and will take over a year to compile.  Community members wanting more information or interested in providing feedback should contact Lourdes Martinez or Gene Ospital of the AQMD at 909-396-3214, or access information via the AQMD’s website, www.aqmd.gov.