High School Students Expose Lies About OAK Explansion Plans

WHAT: Yesterday, Oakland - High School student members of Youth Vs. Apocalypse (YVA) spoke at the Port of Oakland Commissioners meeting, sharing evidence the Port staff had lied to Commissioners minutes before they voted to certify the Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR) for the proposed OAK expansion.

WHY: In October, 2023, in a Public Comment letter about the proposed expansion,The Alameda County Public Health Department had requested that the Port staff conduct a comprehensive Health Impact Assessment study of the potential health risks to East Oakland residents of the proposed OAK expansion.

However, The Port of Oakland staff refused the Health Department’s request, stating they had researched Health Impact Assessments at both San Jose and Santa Monica airports and found that such studies led to “inconclusive results” or showed “no impacts.” 

The high school students then filed Public Records requests to obtain the Health Impact Assessment studies which the Port staff had allegedly reviewed, and found that the Port staff had lied to the Commissioners about the studies’ results.  

Far from showing “inconclusive results” or “no impacts,” the Health Impact Assessment at the Santa Monica Airport…

• …documented elevated levels of Ultrafine Particle pollution associated with aircraft takeoffs surrounding the airport
• …recommended significantly decreasing aircraft takeoffs to reduce community exposure to jet fuel exhaust pollution
• …even recommended closure of the airport!

The Alameda County Health Department’s Public Comment letter also noted that the Port of Oakland’s’s Environmental Impact Report ignored pre-existing health inequities in East Oakland, including the highest rates of hospitalizations for asthma in the county. Asthma is a condition aggravated by air pollution such as the Ultrafine Particles mentioned in the Santa Monica airport Health Impact Assessment.  

However, on November 21, 2024 , just minutes after hearing the false information presented to them by their staff, the Port of Oakland Commissioners voted unanimously to certify the Final Environmental Impact Report for the proposed OAK expansion, without the Health Impact Assessment study the Alameda County Health Department had requested. 

“It’s atrocious that the Port decided against our County Health Department’s request to conduct a thorough Health Impact Assessment on the expansion of the airport. It has a high propensity to harm everybody’s health, especially young people, who will vie with its repercussions the rest of their lives. And the Port staff lied about it to the Commissioners! The Commissioners must reverse their vote and do the study that even the Health Department agrees is necessary.  We must put the health of our future generations above economic pursuits,” said August Balquist, member of the Skyline High School Youth Vs. Apocalypse Club. 

Yesterday, after sharing the lies they had uncovered, the high school students called on the Port Commissioners to reverse their vote and de-certify the Final Environmental Impact Report for the proposed expansion.

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WHO: Youth Vs. Apocalypse is a diverse group of young climate justice activists working together to lift the voices of youth fighting for a livable climate and an equitable, sustainable, and just world.