By Martin Rubin Director of Concerned Residents Against Airport Pollution
After reading “Back in black: City has a surplus” (Feb. 6, page 1), I ask: Shouldn’t the city of Santa Monica use some of its $1.3 million surplus to address the jet air pollution health risks to the communities bordering Santa Monica Airport?
More and more people living close to the airport are complaining about the air pollution from idling jets and how it is affecting their health, as well as their pets’ heath. To all these people, there is a sense of urgency, Mayor Bloom!
It has been established that the first step that needs to be taken to assess health risks from the airports operations is to collect data showing the ground activity, including the idle times of the jets at the airport. The data will then be used in a computer modeling study, the preferred method by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This can be done, inexpensively, with a few video surveillance cameras, not unlike the cameras I believe Santa Monica is already using at the pier and at the mall.
We are talking approximately 30 total jet operations a day, not exactly rocket science.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 8, 2007. Read the original PDF.