Diesel exhaust is one of our city’s worst sources of toxic air pollution. The pollution from diesel construction equipment and vehicles is a major threat to the public’s health, known to trigger asthma attacks, heart attacks, lung cancer, and even premature death. Each year, it is estimated that diesel fine particles cause over 700 deaths, 1,100 heart attacks and 28,000 asthma attacks in our region alone. The health effects of diesel exhaust is especially concerning given Chicago is an “asthma epicenter” with a hospitalization rate almost double the national average.

Recently, Mayor Daley introduced an ordinance that would require cleaner fuels and cleaner diesel equipment to be used on city-funded construction projects. This is the right thing to do.

Other cities, such as New York and San Francisco, have adopted such policies. And just last year, Cook County passed a similar ordinance in an effort to improve the county’s air, which still violates federal health standards for fine particulate matter.

The Illinois Campaign to Clean Up Diesel Pollution, a coalition of over 100 organizations led by Citizen Action/Illinois and Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago (RHAMC), applauds Mayor Daley for his leadership in cleaning up diesel construction equipment. Enacting policies to clean up construction equipment will play a vital role in ensuring that everyone can safely breathe Chicago’s air.

In moving forward, we call Aldermen Reilly and Daley to support this important ordinance. Public money should not be spent on dirty fuel and equipment that harms public health when cleaner solutions are available.

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By PN from South Loop
Posted: 04/11/2011 1:41 PM

If your organization wants to see cleaner air in Chicago, I recommend working with IDOT to try and get some of those federal dollars to build new highways in order to relieve stress on existing ones. Traffic jams=more exhaust. Just one example of poor planning: every day on the East-bound Eisenhower there is a huge back-up as one approaches the 294. Pass the 294 ramp and the traffic clears. Logical conclusion: we need a new way to get from the West Burbs to 294 other than the Eisenhower.

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By PN from South Loop
Posted: 04/11/2011 1:35 PM

Fair enough, but I can't imagine that the ordinance would have too great of an impact. Chicago is America's transportation hub. The number of trucks and trains coming through here, bearing either goods or people, is astronomical. On top of that our highway system is a mess; people traveling to and from Chicago spend more time in traffic than any other city except L.A. No doubt the amount of trucks feeds into that fact, but it also has to do with the way our expressways are laid out.