Cutting Diesel Pollution

 One of the issues I will be focused on on the Council is asthma.  In Boston we are suffering from what I call an asthma epidemic.  One of the reasons is because of diesel pollution.  Suffolk County (of which Boston is a part) is in the worst 1% in terms of diesel pollution, with levels 300 times above acceptable limits.  33% of this diesel pollution comes from construction vehicles.

As the Chairman of the Council’s Asthma Committee, I will be working with my colleagues on efforts to stem this diesel pollution by ensuring that construction vehicles that operate in Boston are retrofitted. By retrofitting the exhaust systems, we can cut the pollution caused by these trucks by up to 90%.