Gov. Brown recently gave his last State of the State. The speech included a statement about targeting communities harmed by air pollution. He said “instead of just measuring pollutants over vast swaths of land, regulators will zero in on those communities which are particularly disadvantaged by trains, trucks or factories.” There are few communities more harmed by trucks and trains in the nation than communities along the I-710 corridor in southeast Los Angeles County, which is the major road artery connecting the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach with the rest of the country. One of the biggest impacts of this economic engine is that it brings toxic pollution that makes people sick and even causes death. Too many of my neighbors, friends, and family members get sick from this toxic freight pollution. At this point the doctors of our children expect our children to get asthma, and not a year goes by without someone I know being diagnosed with cancer.

Understanding the constant threat to these communities, Assemblywomen Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens, coaxed Gov. Brown to visit the I-710 corridor last year to talk about how California can be more responsive to communities that have suffered from disproportionate pollution burdens for decades. Gov. Brown toured the community of Bell Gardens, ate his first torta ever (according to the governor himself) with me and other community advocates, and left understanding that our communities have a bulls eye on them for pollution from many sources.

While Gov. Brown spouts feel-good rhetoric in the State of the State, some of his agencies are simultaneously zeroing in on our communities, not for clean up, but to continue perpetrating the same harms that have been perpetrated for decades. On the exact same day Gov. Brown delivered his State of the State, the state’s lead transportation agency, Caltrans was down in the I-710 corridor pushing local elected leaders to support a dirty I-710 road expansion project (Alternative 5C) over the fierce objections of residents and local elected officials in the corridor. Rather than considering alternatives proposed by impacted communities, Caltrans simply wants a larger road to accommodate more dirty diesel and “natural” gas trucks to fuel the freight industry.

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California must do more to allow ex-offenders find work Residents have a better vision for this corridor, which includes mandatory zero emissions lanes, more robust public transit, bike and pedestrian facilities, a commitment to put local people to work, and not displacing homes, facilities that support the homeless, and other vital resources. We have been willing participants in this process for close to two decades, in fact we forced Caltrans to build the public participation structure that currently exists, but the project that pops up is just more dirty diesel trucks lanes. In contrast, Caltrans dirty road project does little to advance zero emissions, does little to ensure local labor is hired to build this enormous project, and will displace hundreds of longstanding families from their homes.

When you look past the rhetoric, it’s painfully clear that our communities are being zeroed in on, but not to help us, rather to harm us. It doesn’t make sense to destroy homes when we are in a housing crisis. It doesn’t make sense to destroy a homeless shelter when we are in a homelessness crisis. It doesn’t make sense to displace companies and jobs when our communities consistently suffer under the economic crisis of unemployment. It doesn’t make sense to not maximize zero emissions technology when we are in a climate and health crisis. We need our local elected leaders to stand up for our communities against this aggressive behavior by behemoth state agencies like Caltrans. Leaders like Mayor Robert Garcia of Long Beach, Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles, and Supervisors Hilda Solis and Janice Hahn need to make sure that when state regulators “zero in” on our communities, they provide us zero emissions trucks, not dirty road-widening projects. And, if these local elected leaders do not have the courage to stand up to powerful state interests, we urge Gov. Brown to stop zeroing in on our communities. Conditions are too hard and too polluted to have Gov. Brown’s agencies making matters worse.

mark! Lopez is the executive director of East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice (EYCEJ), an environmental health and justice non-profit organization that represents the communities around the City of Commerce and Long Beach.