Standing in his front yard in Wilmington, Jose Ulloa can’t get a sentence out without coughing. Heavy-duty trucks, headed to and from the Port of Los Angeles, pass in front of his home all day, their engines roaring and their exhaust spewing into the air.
Ulloa, who was diagnosed with asthma a few years ago, suffers frequent breathing problems and was hospitalized after one attack. The truck traffic is likely a trigger, since health officials say diesel exhaust is known to cause asthma attacks and other respiratory problems, including lung cancer.
The parade of big rigs in his neighborhood started four years ago, after a series of traffic pattern changes altered their route.
Imelda, his wife, sweeps the yard and cleans the home nonstop, but black dust still collects on every surface of their home within hours.
“If you blow your nose, black dust will come out,” she said. “It’s a terrible life living here.”
In Oakland, Mashhoor Alammari, who runs a small fleet of drayage trucks that haul cargo to and from the port, wants to do his part to help clean the air of dangerous diesel exhaust.
His company, The Crew Transportation, Inc., bought two new zero-emission big rigs at a cost of more than $900,000. But the trucks, powered by hydrogen fuel cells, are expensive to operate and there are few if any fueling stations along their routes. The new trucks have been sitting in the parking lot most of the time since he bought them.
“I don’t want to put myself into a financial hole,” he said.
The experiences of the Wilmington family and the Oakland truck company illustrate the frustrations and obstacles that Californians face as state officials pursue an…
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