* Inside Climate News…

Increasingly, warehouses crop up beside neighborhoods, exposing people living nearby to exhaust fumes from starting, stopping and idling trucks. And these diesel plumes carry a host of potential health threats to the public, including low birth rates, respiratory illnesses, even dementia.

These are the findings of a recent report from the Environmental Defense Fund, an advocacy group that, using proximity-mapping technology, found that about 15 million people live within a half mile of a warehouse in 10 states it examined, including more than one million children under 5 years old. […]

The problem is especially acute in Illinois as a freight-handling, crossroads transportation hub where the study showed nearly two million people, including 138,000 children under 5, live within a half mile of a warehouse. […]

The Environmental Defense Fund tallied 17,600 warehouses in the 10 states it examined, 2,401 in Illinois, with the homes of Black, Latino, Asian and American Indian people disproportionately affected. […]

The pattern of unequal warehouse distribution holds across all states, the study found, but in Illinois, the disproportionality is double what would be expected given the state’s population. The same was found to be true for Colorado and Massachusetts.

* Last month, Warehouse Workers for Justice released a report detailing air pollution in Joliet and Elwood. Herald News…

Warehouse Workers for Justice on Wednesday released a report saying air pollution in residential areas in the vicinity of the Joliet and Elwood intermodal facilities is at unhealthy levels and urging a move to electric trucks.

The report comes after a study by WWJ monitoring pollution from particulate matter 2.5 in the air at four locations in Joliet and Elwood over eight weeks.

“This report was born from health and safety concerns of warehouse workers and local residents living close to warehouses, highways and ports who are growing increasingly worried about levels of chronic lung conditions like asthma and [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease] in the area,” Madison Lisle, co-author of the report, said at a news conference.

One participant in the study said that more than 1,000 trucks could be counted at one Joliet intersection in a two-hour period.

* Sun-Times Editorial Board…

In the closing days of the Illinois General Assembly, some lawmakers are supporting a dubious idea: adding managed toll lanes to a section of Interstate 55 between the Dan Ryan Expy. and I-355.

What transportation planners really should be doing is focusing on clean air, reviving public transit — in line for big post-pandemic funding cuts — and finding other low-cost alternatives to driving. Transportation is the No. 1 source of greenhouse gas emissions in Illinois, and it also releases particulate matter and other pollutants. Expanding interstates is not going to fix that. […]

I-55 does suffer from traffic congestion, especially where the road shrinks from three lanes to two. Intermodal facilities on the Southwest Side have added to the truck traffic. But urban planners have long known that adding lanes to deal with congestion also puts more vehicles on a particular road — which in this case would increase vehicle emissions on the Southwest Side. And where is the discussion of adding infrastructure for electric vehicles?

The most successful route to reducing congestion is to provide people with alternatives, including safe, reliable and frequent public transit. Any move for public-private financing demands a lot of discussion to make sure it benefits the taxpayers.

* Sen. Rachel Ventura cited pollution from semi-trucks for her “no” vote on the Peotone Airport bill. WJOL…

Illinois lawmakers have passed legislation which takes steps toward the development of a new airport. If the governor signs the bill, it will direct the Illinois Department of Transportation to create a list of qualifications for proposals to build a cargo airport in Peotone. The project has been debated for around 40 years. IDOT has spent nearly $100 million acquiring land in the area over the years.

But Joliet State Senator Rachel Ventura (D-Joliet) voted against House Bill 2531 – which would bring a new freight airport to Will County. Ventura spoke out during Senate debate against the bill, citing increased cargo truck traffic along with local opposition from the Will County Farm Bureau and a majority of Will County Board members.

In response, she released the following statement:

“If this airport is built, the residents of Will County are going to face increased truck traffic on our roadways and interstate highways. This cargo airport is going to bring more freight into the region that will be transported to intermodal yards via roadways instead of using railways. Overall, the airport is a bad deal for Will County residents who are likely to see more congestion, more accidents, more pollution, and higher property taxes to pay for road repairs.”