On the Ground with the Toxic Tour
Oakland Port Commissioner Kenneth Katzoff, left, makes a point as Commissioner Anthony Batarese, center, and Commission Second Vice President Margaret Gordon listen. Katzoff and Batarese voted against passage of the Port's Comprehensive Truck Management Plan because of uncertainty about the legality of a last minute amendment, while Gordon voted for the plan. (Photo by Kim Komenich)
Tuesday June 2 was a long day of reporting for the Toxic Tour of the Bay team. The group arrived at the scene of the Oakland Port Commission meeting around 3:30pm and didn’t leave until nearly 9, only to find that the official vote on the Comprehensive Truck Management Plan–intended to cut port pollution 85 percent by 2020–was postponed until the June 16 meeting. The delay was caused in part by a recent amendment to the plan, which would ban all pre-1994 trucks from the port due to their older designs which spew more diesel exhaust than the newer trucks. Because the new amendment would change the CTMP’s requirement to retrofit all trucks that go in and out of the port to only post-1994 trucks, while banning the older ones, the commission asked for more time for review.
It was a day of mixed emotions and frustrations for environmentalists, truck drivers, Oakland residents and port commissioners alike. But even after all of that, our dedicated Spot.us reporter Kwan Booth rushed home to give us a recap on the Spot.us BlogTalkRadio show.
Get the inside scoop from Kwan Booth himself:
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Check out the growing body of work on this subject by our three awesome reporters at newsdesk.org/archives/toxic-tour/.
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