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Port Health Watch Launches with 11 Port Assessments

We are launching Port Health Watch with site-specific health impact assessments covering 11 priority U.S. port communities — from the nation's largest container complexes to Great Lakes bulk cargo terminals.

Why This Exists

39 million Americans live within three miles of a port. The science linking fine particulate matter exposure to premature death is settled. The data on who lives near ports — and what they earn, and what diseases they carry — is public. But no standardized framework has connected these data streams into the dollar figures that move policymakers, port commissioners, and grant reviewers.

Port Health Watch builds that bridge.

What We've Published

Our initial portfolio covers ports across every major U.S. coastline and regulatory context:

CARB-Regulated Baseline:

  • Los Angeles / Long Beach — America's largest port complex, demonstrating what mandatory at-berth controls look like
  • Oakland — Where regulation meets environmental justice

Priority 1 — Highest Impact:

  • New York / New Jersey — 2,600 tonnes of at-berth pollutants, 3.2M exposed residents, $150M+ annual health cost

Priority 2 — High Impact:

  • Houston / Galveston — America's busiest ship channel, $100M+ health cost
  • New Orleans — Highest Priority 2 emissions, at the terminus of Cancer Alley
  • Seattle / Tacoma — Duwamish Valley Superfund site, most actionable non-CA jurisdiction
  • Savannah — Fastest-growing U.S. container port, zero emissions controls
  • Baltimore — America's busiest RoRo port, Curtis Bay environmental justice crisis

Priority 3 — Screening Stage:

What Comes Next

We are developing two novel frameworks for the voluntary environmental markets:

  1. Air Quality Health Units (AQHUs) — the first tradable health benefit asset class for port pollution reduction, under development for Verra's SD VISta program
  2. Maritime Carbon Capture Methodology — a Verra VCS methodology for at-berth carbon capture using barge-mounted systems

We are also launching a FOIA campaign targeting 18 federal and state agencies for port emissions compliance, Clean Ports Program disbursement, and environmental enforcement data.

For research partnerships, health impact assessment inquiries, or media requests: research@porthealthwatch.org.