Originally posted by durrelllrobert
Dangerous Air Quality Found at the San Ysidro Border Crossing
Environment and Resources - Air
Written by Robert Biddle
Monday, 26 September 2011 15:19
The San Ysidro Healthy Borders Project used air-quality monitors to study pollution at the border. People at the border breathe air that is 10
times more polluted than do the people next door in Imperial Beach, which has some of the cleanest air in the county. Concentrations of
carbon monoxide, soot and ultra-fine particulates are three to four times higher at the San Ysidro Port of Entry than they are in areas of the county
that have historically reported the worst air quality.
At various times during 2010, investigators for the San Ysidro Healthy Borders Project strapped scientific equipment to their backs in order to
measure the contents of the air they were breathing throughout the day. During 2008 and 2009, they monitored air quality from similar equipment
installed at fixed points within the transnational area. In order to gauge the psychological cost of standing in line for hours, they also surveyed
pedestrians who were waiting to be admitted into the U.S. The project was designed and conducted as a cooperative study among San Diego State
University’s Graduate School of Public Health, the San Diego Prevention Research Center and Casa Familiar of San Ysidro. A representative from each
entity was delegated to offer a preliminary report of the project’s findings on September 6, 2011, before a permanent committee of the San Diego
Association of Governments (SANDAG).
“Our study showed that the people who cross the border breathe in a lot of poisons harmful to the respiratory systems of both children and adults,”
said David Flores, Casa Familiar’s delegate. “Certainly the greatest impact falls on the pedestrians, who wait in long lines for hours in order to
cross the border, because that’s where all the pollution is. People who live or work close to the port of entry are also affected. Willow School is
only a few yards from the freeway. Sunset School and nearby businesses and shops also suffer direct effects of the pollution.”
Prior medical research has established that levels of carbon monoxide and ultra-fine particulate matter similar to those measured at the San Ysidro
border produce birth defects and cause irreparable damage to the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. The border area currently lacks an
air-quality standard to regulate the concentrations of these pollutants.
Some of the pollution generated at the border becomes part of the earth’s ozone layer. The Healthy Borders Project found that a vehicle
sitting idle with its motor running puts out three times more greenhouse gases than does a vehicle in motion. The project measured the
emissions from vehicles waiting at the San Ysidro, Otay Mesa and Tecate ports of entry between October 2008 and March 2009. They concluded that
approximately 166,000 barrels of oil – enough to supply electricity to 8,664 homes for an entire year – had been burned while waiting in line and some
78,700 metric tons of carbon dioxide had been added to the atmosphere. |
