PORTLAND, Ore. – As of July 1, 2013, the Portland metro area has cut transit service so much that it is violating federal laws. Specifically, we have fallen out of compliance with a Transportation Control Measure requiring a 1% annual increase in transit service on average over the previous five years. Pursuant to the Clean Air Act, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires that the Portland area comply with a Carbon Monoxide (CO) Maintenance Plan due to a past violation of national health-based standards. Metro and TriMet are responsible for implementing the transportation control measures that are part of this plan, while the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is responsible for enforcing them.
One way that the CO Maintenance Plan addresses Portland’s long history of poor air quality is by requiring minimal increases in transit service, bicycle infrastructure and pedestrian accessibility in order to ensure alternative transportation options that decrease the amount of personal automobile usage. Metro and TriMet are meeting the area’s bicycle and pedestrian goals while neglecting the transit service requirements.
Due to significant transit service cuts over the past five years, the Portland area is no longer in compliance with the CO Maintenance Plan. Yet, despite barely satisfying this federal requirement for several years and anticipating the current violation for the last several months, TriMet and Metro are seeking to change the formula for determining compliance instead of actually increasing transit service to avoid a violation in the first place. These questionable practices impact our regional health and do a grave injustice to those of us most at risk from air pollution, many of whom are also our most transit-dependent residents.
“I live on SE 125th & Powell and I have to run an air purifier in order to sleep at night and I go to acupuncture to help with my breathing,” says Teresa Keishi Soto, a transit-dependent rider and low-income renter. ”We do not want all these people who ride the bus to have to go out and buy cars. We need to promote mass transit and be aware that we already have serious air quality problems. Because of my breathing-related health problems, I now have to move to another part of town. I need to live in a place where I can breathe easier every day.”
This violation was years in the making, yet regional leadership at Metro and TriMet have skirted their responsibility to improve transit service and regional health. Oregon DEQ is now tasked under ORS 182.545 to consider environmental justice issues in deciding whether and how to act pursuant to this requested rule change. DEQ will conduct public hearings on this proposal later this summer and must approve the rule change before submitting it to the EPA for final federal approval under the Clean Air Act. DEQ recently conducted a multi-year Portland Air Toxics Solutions study, documenting the significant risk to our regional health from air toxics and the disproportionate risk faced by communities of color and low-income communities. Increasing transit service is one critical strategy identified in the study for improving air quality and reducing vehicle miles traveled. The proposed formula change in the CO Maintenance Plan is not equivalent to the existing standard, undermines the intent of the Clean Air Act, and avoids regional commitments to increase actual transit service hours.
“DEQ has been a leader in Oregon on environmental justice, and has taken issues of disproportionate exposure to air pollution seriously. The agency conducted the state's first EJ analysis of air toxics in the Portland metro region, clearly showing how communities of color and low-income communities bear a greater risk of exposure and health impacts,” OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon Executive Director Jonathan Ostar says. “We call on the agency to utilize its considerable discretion afforded under the Clean Air Act to ensure that our local and regional jurisdictions are not playing fast and loose with the rules that are meant to protect the public health. Carbon monoxide is a criteria air pollutant, one of the most dangerous in the atmosphere, and we should be taking aggressive steps to curb CO emissions and increase transit service frequency and access. This is a great opportunity for DEQ to set an example for the metro region and the entire state about our commitment to environmental justice.”
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| OPAL leadership team |
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