Air-quality regulators to study health effects of San Bernardino Rail Yard, By Phil Willon, June 9, 2011, Los Angeles Times: “Southern California air-quality regulators are sponsoring an in-depth study to determine if the San Bernardino Rail Yard, a major inland hub of goods shipped across the U.S., has caused an increase in cancer and asthma in the neighboring low-income communities. The study comes two years after the California Air Resources Board determined that diesel emissions from locomotives, big-rigs and other equipment at the facility posed a significant health risk to thousands of residents living near the site, and that the facility posed the greatest cancer risk of any rail yard in California…”
Category: Environment
Natural Disaster Displacement
Millions displaced by natural disasters last year, Associated Press, June 6, 2011, Lincoln Journal Star: “About 42 million people were forced to flee their homes because of natural disasters around the world in 2010, more than double the number during the previous year, experts said Monday. One reason for the increase in the figure could be climate change, and the international community should be doing more to contain it, the experts said. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre said the increase from 17 million displaced people in 2009 was mainly due to the impact of ‘mega-disasters’ such as the massive floods in China and Pakistan and the earthquakes in Chile and Haiti…”
Tornado Damage and Low-Income Homeowners
In Alabama, tornadoes wiped out uninsured homes, By Tanya Ott, May 5, 2011, National Public Radio: “Across the South, crews are clearing debris and starting the rebuilding process after last week’s deadly tornadoes. Early estimates put the amount of insured damage at up to $5 billion across the region, but that doesn’t include all of the uninsured damage, which could be extensive. Robert Jamison’s house in the Smithfield Estates neighborhood of North Birmingham has been wiped out. ‘It all the way demolished. The wind blowed everything out there,’ Jamison says as he and two friends pick through what’s left of his home. Furniture, clothing, appliances – all ruined. The roof is missing, as is one wall. The floor joists are bowed and the whole place looks like it could collapse at any minute. Jamison says it feels like his whole world is falling down around him. ‘I dropped the insurance on the house because I couldn’t pay it no more. The economy got me,’ he says…”