Port and Freight Strategies

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Tackling mobile sources of air pollution at the Port of Oakland and beyond

West Oakland has been the engine of Oakland’s economy since its beginnings as an industrialized city, beginning with the railyards in the 1800s and continuing today as the Port of Oakland has grown into the fifth busiest container port in the country. But while goods flow into West Oakland, get loaded onto trucks and rail cars, and distributed to the city and county and throughout Northern California, the neighborhood is left to deal with the excessive pollution produced by these freight activities in their own backyard.

The Port is one of the largest sources of air pollution in West Oakland

  • Bar graph showing West Oakland's top sources of cancer weighted-toxics emissions, with each emission source a color of the rainbow: highway (8%), street (7%), port (52%), rail (7%), permitted (5%), other (4%), not included (17%).
    Top emissions sources in West Oakland in 2017 (source: “Owning Our Air: The West Oakland Community Action Plan vol. 2,” 2019)
  • Bar graph showing West Oakland's top sources of diesel particulater matter emissions, with each emission source a color of the rainbow: highway (8%), street (7%), port (57%), rail (8%), permitted (1%), other (5%), not included (15%).
    Top emissions sources in West Oakland in 2017 (source: “Owning Our Air: The West Oakland Community Action Plan vol. 2,” 2019)
  • Bar graph showing West Oakland's top sources of PM2.5 emissions, with each emission source a color of the rainbow: highway (16%), street (17%), port (17%), rail (2%), permitted (14%), other (1%), not included (34%).
    Top emissions sources in West Oakland in 2017 (source: “Owning Our Air: The West Oakland Community Action Plan vol. 2,” 2019)

Explore the port and freight strategies

Today, Owning Our Air contains 37 strategies addressing port and freight solutions, with a particular focus on targeting mobile sources like cargo handling, building an electrical infrastructure, and truck management. The plan also identifies several enforcement strategies and at least one area requiring further study.

80+ strategies aim to improve air quality across West Oakland by 2030

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