Aviles questions Thurston on PM2.5 disparities in environmental justice communities

And now I recognize Council Member Reveals for questions.

Thank you so much.

I just had a quick question for the professor.

I'm sorry, I missed your first name.

George.

George.

George, in your study, can you just briefly describe for the record the disparities of PM2.5 in environmental justice communities and more wealthier communities?

Yes, I have done studies, especially in the South Bronx, and we see much higher levels, especially diesel.

I mean, basically, if you're in the South Bronx and you're near one highway, if you move away from it, you're moving towards another highway.

It's enveloped by...

Highways all around it in every direction.

Harlem's a lot like that.

So there's major throughways.

And then there's congestion.

And congestion pricing is not helping them much.

Although we have seen generally lower air pollution levels following the congestion pricing throughout the city with some hotspots.

But anyway, so that and the effects of them.

One of my studies we have one we're looking at right now with cardiovascular damage from local pollution on New Yorkers.

It still continues.

We've documented it before, especially traffic pollution, cardiovascular, respiratory asthma.

It's a real problem.

Diesel particles are an antigen.

So they not only have the toxic effects of fossil fuels with metals,

transition metals that cause oxidative stress, inflammation, which underlies a lot of disease throughout the body, so it has systemic effects.

So we're not just talking about, I mean, asthma is a very big problem, and I'm not dismissing it, but I'm saying it goes beyond that.

And every New Yorker, not just people who have respiratory problems, we're all threatened by this, and there are disparities in the levels of exposures.

And that's one of the reasons why I think, you know, we're talking about climate, but also health, that, like, the city has great buying power.

And they could start buying up these trucks and solving this problem, the solutions, and then creating a market that private people could then buy them and have battery-based operations, perhaps.

Like, I own a Chevy Volt.

It's like 15 years old, runs like new because it's electric most of the time, and then occasionally it's got a backup engine that once in a blue moon I need it if I'm going to travel to the airport or something.

And so, you know, you can design trucks like that, and I think there are trucks like that, where they have a battery pack for around the town and then an engine that will occasionally back it up so there's no, you know, running out of power and plugging it in and waiting for it to charge up kind of thing.

So there's technology solutions, and we should be driving those.

Thank you.

I couldn't agree with you more, and it means that our city needs to use all the tools in the toolbox, including translating

and allowing for documents to be submitted, particularly complaints to be submitted in languages other than English,

which the administration has not solved because the instructions are all questions are required to be answered in English.

So just for the record, that is one thing we can certainly do, but we have,

I agree with you wholeheartedly, our city needs to use its market power, its enforcement power, and every other regulatory option to make sure that it's...

communities are protected, and particularly environmental justice communities who have bore the brunt of infrastructure that the rest of the city also benefits from.

So thank you so much for your testimony.

This is a public health issue and an urgent one.

Thank you.