Becca Bantum has lived in West Oakland for about three years. They shop at their local grocery cooperative. They go to neighborhood parks. And they volunteer to support the work of People’s Programs.
All while listening, and echoing the experiences of breathing in West Oakland’s polluted air. When they would leave the neighborhood to visit family or go more inland away from the Coast, Bantam said the air felt different. It was notably “fresher.” Bantam said that even a ten minute walk from their home to the grocery felt more strenuous due to the poor air quality. Their experiences are not unique.
West Oakland residents exposed to airborne toxins
West Oakland’s air quality contains toxic chemicals and fumes that shorten residents life expectancy and increase risks for respiratory complications and cancer. Residents in West Oakland are fighting to breathe and resolve these environmental injustices.
Three Interstate highways divide West Oakland: I-880, I-980, and I-580. Day and Night freight trucks pass through West Oakland on the 880 freeway. The constant travel of heavy duty trucking allows for black carbon, or “soot” to be transmitted into homes. Black carbon is an air pollutant that is discharged from fossil fuels like oil and coal. According to a report released by the Environmental Protection Agency, black carbon causes respiratory issues, cancer and even birth defects.
Children in West Oakland are more likely to be admitted to the emergency room for severe asthma than other children in the county, according to a 2016 report from the Alameda County Public Health Department.
These are realities not experienced by residents near the I-580 freeway. Since 1963, there has been a truck ban stretching from Grand Avenue in Oakland to Foothill Blvd in San Leandro, prohibiting the travel of vehicles exceeding 4.5 tons. The tale of these two freeways, 880 in the flatlands and 580 below the hills, and the different neighborhood demographics and consequences is an example of environmental inequality.
“Increasing particulate and NOx, even slightly, is contrary to our goals of reducing those pollutants in West Oakland. It also seems contrary to state goals to decarbonize our communities and industries.”
Brian Beveridge, West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project
Heavy industry is located in West Oakland neighborhoods, which rests adjacent to the Port of Oakland. According to the Port, it is a “vibrant seaport, thriving airport,” with over 80,000 imports in August 2024 alone. Living next to the Port of Oakland exposes West Oakland residents to the high emissions of greenhouse gases that the port produces.
This is in addition to the lack of greenery, illegal dumping, and industrialization of the neighborhood.
This includes the Radius Recycling, formerly Schnitzer Steel Products Company, a scrap metal and recycling facility lining the foot of West Oakland. Despite recent charges of operations violations and crimes and fines from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), Schnitzer Steel is applying for a permit for equipment used to incinerate toxic gasses. This equipment will emit high amounts of pollutant into West Oakland’s already polluted air ways, a move that concerns community members.
Schnitzer Steel and air quality
The West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project (WOEIP) is currently organizing against Schnitzer Steel, calling on the company to “clean up their act.” Brian Beveridge, co-director of the WOEIP said that there are cleaner alternatives for the equipment Schnitzer Steel is being permitted to operate.
The court-ordered agreement requires the company to address emissions from their shredding operation, but the incinerators or “thermal oxidizers” being used to treat emissions uses fuel that will increase nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, Beveridge said.
“Increasing particulate and NOx, even slightly, is contrary to our goals of reducing those pollutants in West Oakland. It also seems contrary to state goals to decarbonize our communities and industries,” Beveridge said via email.
Editor’s note: Beveridge graduated from the first Oakland Voices class in 2010.
There are also still risks of fires the company has yet to address.
“The industry claims that the fires are caused by various lithium batteries that are left in the vehicles and appliances that are shredded. This is the 21st century,” Beveridge said. “The recycling industry and the product manufacturers need to solve this problem. Our communities can’t be sacrifice zones for the ‘green’ economy.”
Protecting our Air, ‘Owning our Air’
In 2017, the California State Legislature passed Assembly Bill (AB) 617 which created the Community Air Protection Program (CAPP), to “reduce exposure in communities most impacted by air pollution.”
With decades of neighborhood research and the passing of AB 617, the WOEIP has created Owning Our Air, outlining the West Oakland Community Action Plan (WOCAP), an initiative created by the community of West Oakland. The WOCAP community plan has outlined more than eighty strategies to reduce air pollution emissions and clean up West Oakland’s air by 2030. Strategies include moving polluting businesses and activities away from residents, funding clean trucks, and moving toward a zero-emission port.
According to Beveridge, WOCAP has helped cut back black carbon emissions from diesel equipment in half, and reduced local cancer risk by over 30 percent.
“Ongoing research being carried out by WOEIP will help measure this success and offer better understanding of total particulate matter, which still remains too high,” he said.
Planting seeds for environmental justice
West Oakland residents said that air quality is only one of the environmental struggles. Bantum also expressed concerns about the possible contamination of West Oakland’s soil and water. Though organizations like the WOEIP are busy combatting a long standing history of environmental racism, solutions will not happen overnight. WOEIP recently launched “1000 Blades of Grass” to support its work.
In the meantime, residents have to keep pushing forward to live. When recalling their daily strolls, Bantum said, “I was struggling a little bit, but I’ll blame it on the air.”
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