{"id":1969,"date":"2015-04-29T11:30:20","date_gmt":"2015-04-29T18:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eycej.org\/?p=1969"},"modified":"2015-04-29T11:30:20","modified_gmt":"2015-04-29T18:30:20","slug":"our-communities-have-waited-long-enough-a-testimony-by-taylor-thomas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eycej.org\/index.php\/2015\/04\/29\/our-communities-have-waited-long-enough-a-testimony-by-taylor-thomas\/","title":{"rendered":"“Our communities have waited long enough…” a Testimony by Taylor Thomas"},"content":{"rendered":"

This past Thursday April 23, 2015, Community Organizer Taylor Thomas took a trip to Sacramento to share her comments on the Sustainable Freight Strategy draft to tell the California Air Resources Board to take immediate action to reduce pollution from rail yards.The Sustainable Freight Strategy draft is a long term plan to make freight hubs (ports, rail-yards, airports etc.) more sustainable and how can California Air Resources Board make them as green as possible. Below is Taylor’s testimony:<\/p>\n

\"TT<\/a><\/p>\n

“Hello Board chair, board members, and staff.<\/p>\n

My name is Taylor Thomas, I\u2019m a resident of Long Beach and with East<\/p>\n

Yard Communities for Environmental Justice and the California Cleaner<\/p>\n

Freight Coalition.<\/p>\n

While you\u2019ve received copies of our letters regarding the draft Sustainable<\/p>\n

Freight Strategy, I\u2019m not here to go over them line by line as other coalition<\/p>\n

members have outlined our concerns, but rather I want to underscore the<\/p>\n

importance of the need for this Board to take immediate action to reduce<\/p>\n

pollution from rail yards.<\/p>\n

The last time I spoke here a few months ago, I talked to my experience of<\/p>\n

growing up near major pollution sources and the impacts that had on my<\/p>\n

health. But today I\u2019m here on behalf of the people who could not be here to<\/p>\n

give testimony.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m here for the families that have to keep their windows closed because<\/p>\n

trains idle a few yards from their homes; I\u2019m here for the teachers and<\/p>\n

playground aides that keep bags of inhalers ready for when, not if but<\/p>\n

when, a child has an asthma attack; I\u2019m here for the nurses and doctors<\/p>\n

that see their patients come in with chronic respiratory illnesses \u00ad not<\/p>\n

knowing how to treat them or what to prescribe to them \u00ad and what could<\/p>\n

they possibly give them knowing that they\u2019ll return to the areas and air that<\/p>\n

is making them sick? They want to tell them to move, but this simply isn\u2019t<\/p>\n

an option for most people.<\/p>\n

Research supports that the communities that bare a disproportionate<\/p>\n

burden of air pollution are low\u00adincome and communities of color. Even if<\/p>\n

people could afford to move, the question is why should they? We have a<\/p>\n

right to a safe and healthy environment. We have a right to clean air.<\/p>\n

So we\u2019re calling on you to take immediate action. We want to see the<\/p>\n

measures outlined in our formal comment letter like: in\u00adyard rail equipment,<\/p>\n

such as yard trucks and cranes, changed to electric (there is already zero<\/p>\n

emission and CNG tech available for these), enhanced truck and<\/p>\n

locomotive inspections, and the installation of the Advanced Locomotive<\/p>\n

Emissions Control System at the maintenance facilities where locomotives<\/p>\n

idle.<\/p>\n

Our communities have waited long enough, so we need you to stand up for<\/p>\n

us. The Board has said that rail yards would be addressed in the<\/p>\n

Sustainable Freight Strategy, but that didn\u2019t happen. This fight for clean air<\/p>\n

is not about me, it\u2019s not about you \u00ad it\u2019s about the families and communities<\/p>\n

that are suffering the consequences of this Board not taking action. Thank<\/p>\n

you.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This past Thursday April 23, 2015, Community Organizer Taylor Thomas took a trip to Sacramento to share her comments on the Sustainable Freight Strategy draft to tell the California Air Resources Board to take immediate action to reduce… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","no-comments"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eycej.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eycej.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eycej.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eycej.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eycej.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/eycej.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1969\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eycej.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eycej.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eycej.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}