The Pala Band of Mission Indians in San Diego County was recently awarded more than $280,000 to monitor local air quality as part of a statewide program to address pollution in the most disadvantaged communities. The money is part of $10 million of cap-and-trade funding doled out last month by the California Air Resources Board to help 25 local groups, as well two other native tribes, monitor and address local air pollution…
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This page features excerpts from news about environmental justice advocacy in the San Joaquin Valley and links to their original sources. Use the features on the right to sort by topic, news source, date, key word or author. You may also subscribe to receive the news by e-mail or through an rss reader. Please note that links to original sources may expire over time.
Cruz Bustamante was lieutenant governor during the California energy crisis, when electricity shortages led to rolling blackouts for millions of people. And now he’s worried a bill being pushed by Gov. Jerry Brown could have similarly disastrous consequences…
California has hit its goal for lowering climate change-causing emissions early. The state Air Resources Board announced Wednesday that greenhouse gas emissions fell below 1990 levels in 2016 — the most recent year data is available — four years earlier than the 2020 target set last decade…
During the first three years of California’s 5-year-old cap-and-trade program, the bulk of the greenhouse gas reductions occurred out of state, which means that state residents did not see the benefits of improved air quality from presumed reductions in harmful co-pollutants, such as particulate matter, according to a new study led by UC Berkeley and San Francisco State University researchers…
The Golden State is a world leader when it comes to clean-air policies and fighting climate change but we still suffer from the worst air quality in the nation and when it comes to who bears the greatest burden of our pollution there is a clear and disturbing color line. A new report released by the state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, a scientific arm of California’s Environmental Protection Agency, documents what environmental justice advocates have been saying for years — the racial makeup of communities suffering the worst environmental degradation in California are disproportionately Latino and African American…
In the Central Valley, two regional plans say they will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle miles traveled, but it’s not clear how that will happen. The Stanislaus Council of Governments (StanCOG) expects to spend $7.4 billion dollars in the next 25 years to improve the county’s transportation system…
A new generation of inexpensive, portable air-quality sensors is making it easier for citizen groups and individuals to monitor the air around them…
This Independence Day, San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District officials want to remind Central Valley residents of the effects July 4 fireworks can have that threaten public health. Air District officials said fireworks can increase levels of dangerous particulate matter, known as PM, including soot, ash and metals, which cause serious health impacts. They said individuals most at risk are small children, the elderly and people with existing respiratory conditions…
Smoke is cascading into Merced County from the huge fire in the northern part of the state leading to poor air quality, and fireworks are about to make it significantly worse, according to health officials. Central San Joaquin Valley residents should be aware of the health risks associated with poor air quality and a “cautionary statement” issued on Monday and Tuesday by the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, experts said. The warning comes after more than 70,000 acres burned in the County Fire in Napa Valley, causing smoke to drift south…
A yellow haze of smoke from the County Fire near Napa Valley is filling the central San Joaquin Valley with small particles of soot and ash that can make the air unhealthy to breathe. And the smoke from the fire couldn’t be drifting into the Valley at a worse time. “Tomorrow we’re going to have a spike in air quality because of fireworks,” said Dr. John Gasman, a pulmonologist at Kaiser Permanente Fresno…