A collaborative effort has emerged between the Chelsea Board of Health and the Chelsea Collaborative, working alongside Brooke Suter of the National Clean Air Task Force and Vanessa Green of Clean Water Action. Their shared goal centers on pressing Congress to mandate and adequately fund clean diesel equipment for federally supported transportation initiatives. The Diesel Emission Reduction Act has provided substantial benefits to municipalities such as Chelsea, though this program faces expiration in the coming year. “We’re working on the federal level to reauthorize that legislation so it will be in existence for another five years,” explained Brooke Suter, national campaign director of the Clean Air Task Force. Looking ahead, Suter emphasized the importance of Massachusetts’s congressional representatives—particularly Rep. Michael Capuano—taking leadership in advancing this legislation. “The legislation has strong bi-partisan (Democratic and Republican) support and truly no opposition,” Suter stated. “It’s just a matter whether people spend enough focus on it to get it done. And we need to get it done because diesel pollution is toxic and we need to clean it up.” Diesel powers numerous transportation and construction applications: transit buses, school buses, long-haul trucks, locomotives, and equipment such as bulldozers and cranes. Beginning in 2006, vehicles operating on roads were mandated to use ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel (ULSD). Come January, the same requirement extends to off-road construction equipment. According to Suter, the Clean Air Task Force champions diesel particulate filters—technology that reduces emissions by no less than 90 percent. “That is the same technology that is required on newly manufactured on-road engines,” Suter noted. “The double-edged sword is that diesel engines are so durable and last so long that the older, dirtier fleets will be on the road for another decade or two.” The task force is pursuing a clean construction provision within the federal transportation bill, with strong backing from Capuano, who serves on both the transportation committee and its highways and transit subcommittee. Companies awarded federally funded construction contracts would face equipment requirements if this provision becomes law, Suter explained. “The concept is that federally funded projects should not be making people sick (affected by pollution) and they are if they’re using dirty diesel equipment,” she added. “The use of clean diesel equipment will save tens of thousands of lives.”
Catherine Maas, a Chelsea Board of Health member collaborating with the Collaborative, underscores the health implications of diesel exhaust exposure. Diesel emissions are linked to asthma attacks, heart attacks, lung cancers, strokes, and premature death. Chelsea currently ranks among the state’s highest categories for stroke, heart disease, and asthma incidence. “We’re really concerned about the public health issue that unmitigated diesel fuel presents,” Maas stated. “We really feel that diesel emissions need to be cleaned up in our area.” The volume of trucking activity within Chelsea has raised particular concerns among Board of Health officials, Maas indicated. “and all the unmitigated diesel emission that we are all breathing in all the time.” “That’s why the Board of Health is working with the Chelsea Collaborative, Clean Water Action and Clean Air Task to be able to take an in-depth look at this problem and see what we can do to solve it,” she remarked.
Jovanna Garcia Soto, lead organizer for Green Space, highlighted progress achieved through the Chelsea Collaborative’s air quality initiatives. In September, a partnership between the Collaborative and the New England Produce Center secured a $2 million EPA grant targeting diesel emission reduction. The initiative will eliminate over 300 tons of pollutants annually, with ongoing efforts from both organizations strengthening the city’s pollution mitigation. “We at Green Space have a clean air subcommittee and are working with Boston University on a diesel mapping and monitoring program,” Garcia-Soto noted. “And we’ve started a discussion to determine the hot spots in Chelsea – where we think we have the most polluted areas in the city.” Vanessa Green, diesel campaign organizer for Clean Water Action and the Massachusetts pollution solution coalition, commended the local organizations’ commitment. “It’s just a total pleasure for me to rely on local groups like the Chelsea Collaborative and Chelsea Green Space, and NOAH (Neighborhood for Affordable Housing),” Green stated. ‘For myself to be the liaison to communicate some of the strategic ways that we can maximize on pollution reduction from diesel engines locally – I’m pleased that pollution reduction is going to be a reality on the streets.
