Governor vetoes SB 974, most important environmental bill this year

Life threatening VETO leaves Californians gasping for air

A HEALTH CRISIS IGNORED
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s VETO of the Ports Investment Bill (SB 974 – Lowenthal) has killed this year’s most important environmental bill, leaving thousands of Californians quite literally gasping for air. His action ignores California’s public health crisis: Every year some 3,700 Californians die due to air pollution from ports and goods movement. The public foots the bill for this dirty air—more than $19 billion in health-related costs yearly.

A PROMISE BROKEN
The Governor has betrayed the Californians who need his help the most. Instead of helping the ten people who die daily from this pollution source, he has turned his back on them and on his campaign promise to cut air pollution in half. “It is upsetting that he has sided with polluters over the health and well-being of those here at home,” said Martin Schlageter, campaign director at the Coalition for Clean Air. If passed, the Ports Investment Bill would have collected more than $300 million per year to clean up port pollution and fix intersections where freight trains delay traffic.

A FIGHT WORTH FIGHTING
The Coalition for Clean Air has fought tirelessly for four years alongside our friend and the author of SB 974, Senator Alan Lowenthal. Our coalition, including business, labor, government officials and environmental advocates, showed unwavering support; we thank everyone for fighting the good fight with us.

While the Ports Investment Bill has been vetoed, the work to clean up our ports continues. On October 1st, the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will begin an aggressive Clean Trucks Program to reduce the harmful impacts of port truck pollution on our environment, public health, and the health of port truck drivers. This represents a major milestone in CCA’s years-long effort to address major sources of pollution at the ports.