Columnists

Air Quality Monitors Back On Line—But Show Stalled Progress Since 2016

The Port of Los Angeles’s four air quality monitoring stations are now operational — that’s the good news shared by consultant Joel Torcolini, who handles the program shared at its third update meeting Oct. 24 via Zoom. There were even backup monitors, which could be put in place within a day or two

But it’s taken enormous pressure from community activists, particularly Andrea Hricko, professor emerita with the USC Keck School of Medicine, to get them back online as their history of sporadic breakdowns turned into an almost total collapse as the pandemic set in, and the flood of ship congestion made the lack of monitoring data an even more grave concern.

At the meeting, the activists’ concern turned to the larger picture, as Torcolini turned his attention to long-term data from a report released in September. 

“The POLA has essentially made little progress in reducing many emissions since 2016,” Hricko summed up in the chat. 

Declines for the decade before that were significant, but have been incremental at best ever since, including those between last year and this, which were brought into question because of missing data.

“The static monitoring results should be driving more aggressive mitigation policies,” homeowner activist Kathleen Woodfeld told Random Lengths afterward.

A full report on the meeting will be published on Random Lengths website in the next few days.

Paul Rosenberg

Rosenberg is a California-based writer/activist, senior editor for Random Lengths News, and a columnist for Salon and Al Jazeera English.

Recent Posts

Desperate Times, Desperate Measures: Yes on 50

Gerrymandering is the bane — well, one of the banes — of our so-called democracy.…

17 hours ago

Padilla, Democrats Call on State Department to Restore Gaza Humanitarian and Medical Visas

The Senators requested a full explanation of the circumstances leading to this abrupt decision to…

19 hours ago

San Pedro City Ballet, Arts United Invite Community to Mural Unveiling Oct. 5

Misty Copeland said of the mural: “I’m incredibly honored to be featured in this stunning…

20 hours ago

Port of Long Beach Names Chief Harbor Engineer

LONG BEACH—The Port of Long Beach has named Monique Lebrun as senior director of the…

2 days ago

Unified Command Completes Salvage Operations for Pier G Container Incident

LONG BEACH — The unified command announces all 95 containers that fell overboard from the…

2 days ago

Western Avenue Work Begins Monday – Expect Delays

The LA County Sanitation Districts started work Sept 29 on a drilling project on Western…

2 days ago