February 10, 2021

ACTION ALERT: Help New Voices Are Rising Win Clean Air for East Oakland

Tell the California Air Resources Board (CARB) that East Oakland residents deserve a community plan to reduce pollution exposure. 

East Oakland residents breathe some of the worst air in California. Diesel pollution is higher in East Oakland’s Interstate 880 corridor than in 90% of California’s communities. In these same East Oakland neighborhoods, a higher percentage of community members are hospitalized with asthma than in 99% of California’s neighborhoods. East Oakland has also been hit harder by the pandemic than any other area of Oakland — with more than 8 times as many COVID cases as some wealthier parts of Oakland — placing residents at even higher risk from pollution-related illness.

Later this month, CARB will decide whether East Oakland will join a small group of California communities that are receiving state funding to help them create community-driven plans to reduce air pollution protect residents from contaminated air.

To help East Oakland residents get these resources, submit a comment here by February 22, 2021. Find a draft comment that you can edit and make your own below.

Find more information on the meeting agenda, how to join the Air Resources Board meeting virtually, and updates on CARB’s website.

Draft Message:

You can copy, paste, edit, and submit the below comment on CARB’s website.

Subject:

Priority Community for Community Air Protection Planning

Message 

Dear Board Members:

I write to urge that East Oakland be named a priority community for community-based air quality planning under Assembly Bill 617.

East Oakland residents face some of the heaviest pollution burdens in California, with truly dire impacts on community health. On the Office of Environmental Health and Hazard Assessments score card, “CalEnviroscreen”, the census tracts that make up the East Oakland 880 corridor score among the state’s worst for diesel pollution and asthma. These same neighborhoods are burdened by industrial pollution, as well.

This pollution has is badly hurting community health. These same census tracts are among the roughly 10% of California’s communities with the highest rates of asthma hospitalization. And right now, bad air is putting residents at higher risk of worse outcomes from the COVID 19 pandemic, which is a special concern because East Oakland has more than 8 times as many confirmed COVID cases as wealthier parts of the city.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

[Your name here]

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