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Environmental Health Coalition

National City

USDG Fuel Update: Community Confronts Polluter

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On May 23rd, more than 50 National City residents came together at a scoping meeting to raise their voice against USDG Fuel’s proposed fuel transfer station. A project that would increase pollution in their community.

Thanks to community organizing, the proposed fuel station will undergo an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to assess the health and environmental hazards the project would have on National City. The first step in the EIR process was the scoping meeting. This was an opportunity for the company to meet the community and help explain the EIR process. Unfortunately, USDG didn’t show up to face the community directly, instead they sent a consultant who was unable to answer some of the residents most crucial questions. For example, what would the impact be if one of the trains or trucks carrying toxic chemicals serviced at their station were to crash or explode?

“I heard comments from the community members that USDG’s absence was disrespectful because they are the ones who want to come to National City. The community is already here defending their environment and the air they breathe,” shared EHC’s National City organizer, Monserrat Hernandez.

Running 24/7 the station would massively increase lung-damaging diesel trucks and train trips. The project would be located less than a mile from homes, Kimball Elementary School, and St. Anthony of Padua Church. The trucks and trains serviced at the station would transport large amounts of hazardous chemicals through our communities increasing the risk of a catastrophic emergency.

View images from the meeting here!

What is an Environmental Impact Report?

According to the Los Angeles Public Library, “Environmental Impact Reports (or EIRs) are reports to inform the public and public agency decision-makers of significant environmental effects of proposed projects, identify possible ways to minimize those effects, and describe reasonable alternatives to those projects.”

What are the next steps in the EIR process?

  • The City will prepare a draft EIR
  • Residents will have 45 days to provide feedback on the EIR
  • The City will then publish the EIR
  • The Planning Commission will then vote to recommend that the City Council either approves or rejects the project
  • The City Council will vote to approve or reject the project
Learn more about USDG Fuel’s Transfer Station

What’s Really Going On With The Weighted Vote?

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Weighted voting makes sure all communities are fairly represented.

EV bus driving under Barrio Logan sign.

What is weighted voting?

Weighted voting makes sure the needs of all communities are fairly represented. It is when each member’s vote is weighted to reflect the size of the population they represent. For example, since the City of San Diego has 1.3 million people its vote counts more than the City of Del Mar whose population is less than 4,000. If Del Mar’s vote counted the same as San Diego’s one of its residents would have about 350 times the voting power of a San Diego resident (more on this below). That is not fair.

How does the weighted vote works at the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG)?

SANDAG uses both tally votes (one vote per member) and weighted votes. When SANDAG takes a weighted vote, it is out of a total of 100 votes that are given out to the board members based on the size of the community they represent. When the votes of all the members are counted, they should equal 100*. For example, City of San Diego gets 42 and Chula Vista gets 8.

Each voting member gets at least one vote even if their community is less than 1% of San Diego County’s population. For instance, Del Mar gets one vote, even though it is only 0.12% of the entire county. That means it is currently getting more than their fair share of voting power – about eight times its population size in voting power.

*there are some exceptions see San Diego Association of Governments Bylaws, page 6, subdivision (H)

Weighted voting is fair, so why are some cities against it?

Some smaller and mostly wealthier cities on the SANDAG board don’t like the weighted vote because they think their residents matter more than residents in other cities. The cities that are against the weighted vote are Coronado, Del Mar, El Cajon, Escondido, Oceanside, Poway, San Marcos, Santee and Vista.

Before the weighted vote.

In 2017, Governor Newsom signed AB 805 into law. It reformed San Diego’s transportation agencies including SANDAG to ensure fair representation of all San Diego’s communities. Prior to 2017,the voting structure of SANDAG gave more influence to smaller and affluent cities like Del Mar, which led to the neglect of transit-dependent communities and they were further impacted by pollution and continuous lack of accessible transportation.

How has the weighted vote helped San Diego communities?

The weighted vote ensures San Diego’s transit communities are fairly represented, and helped shift SANDAG’s focus to prioritize improving public transit for all San Diegans.

We Won’t Allow Mitsubishi Cement Corporation (MCC) to Poison Our Lungs

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On Tuesday, December 13, 2022, we made our voices heard! Community activists, residents, faith leaders, doctors, and educators rallied at the Port of San Diego’s Administrative Building. We made it loud and clear we won’t allow Mitsubishi Cement Corporation to poison our lungs by adding up to 10,500 deadly diesel-polluting truck trips past our homes, schools, and parks.

Watch the rally here!

After the rally we packed the Port’s hearing room. More than 30 people provided public testimony against MCC’s proposed project. In the week’s leading up to the rally Port Commissioners received close to 300 emails in opposition to the project, and our partners at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church gathered around 500 letters in opposition.

We showed up strong and made an impact. Still, MCC is not giving up and neither are we. MCC has NO plan to transition to pollution-free heavy-duty trucks – despite the Port asking them to make one two years ago. They have made little to no effort to engage the community in the five years they’ve been developing this project. MCC does NOT care about our community, our schools, our parks, our health, or our children.

In the coming weeks and months, we will continue to raise our voices to defeat MCC. We kept them out in 2020, we kept them out in 2022, and we will continue to do so in 2023!

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