Smoke on the Water: Teamsters, Not Environmentalists Stand to Score at So. Cal's Ports

-SMOKE ON THE WATER-

(Listen to Deep Purple Live Montreux 2004)

The tide is about to turn for better pay and working conditions for Southern California’s port workers, as anyone who lives or has visited knows, it has some pretty dirty ports. But plans are in the works to blow off some of that pollutey smoke on the water that drifts inland and is responsible for more than for about 12% of all the diesel particle emissions and 45% of the sulphur oxides in southern California. Carried east by prevailing winds, such pollutants help to create some of America's worst air more than 50 miles (80km) inland.

Those who live close to the freeways leading out of the ports suffer the most. Researchers at the University of Southern California have found that children living within a few hundred meters of such roads are not only more likely to suffer from asthma. So why the enthusiastic welcome for Southern California’s ports' from the Teamsters' union? Read more

http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9090229

-2Truthy