The renewable energy revolution is on the rise in California with a significant increase in our use of solar power and other renewable energy. However, most low-income communities and communities of color are renters and don’t have access to clean energy and are not able to benefit from this renewable energy revolution. In order to achieve energy equity, we need to ensure that low-income renters residing in multifamily housing have access to the same opportunities to directly benefit from the expansion of renewable energy in our state…
News
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.
There is arsenic in the groundwater feeding their community well at St. Anthony Trailer Park, 40 miles south of Palm Springs. In ordinary times, the concentration of naturally occurring arsenic is low, and the water safe to drink. But during California’s unrelenting drought, as municipalities join farmers in sucking larger quantities of water from the ground, the concentration of arsenic is becoming more potent…
As the United States continues to embrace its expanded access to oil and natural gas, a number of new maps, mapping tools and studies — from a diverse set of sources — have evaluated the threats posed by pollution from and the transport of hydrocarbon-rich fuels. The results are perhaps unsurprisingly but all-too-disturbingly consistent: dangers to health and safety presented by expendable legacy energy sources fall disproportionately on poor and minority communities…
There’s been a lot of consternation over oil trains recently. In the U.S. and Canada, almost two dozen crude-carrying trains have derailed in the past two years — exploding into giant balls of fire in some cases, and in others, killing people. And while the Obama administration released new oil train safety rules on May 1, they remained so lax and full of holes that some environmental groups immediately sued…
Prioritize Community Monitoring and Next Generation enforcement.” These are the messages that Cesar Campos, Director of Central California Environmental Justice Network brought to the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council (NEJAC) in May. NEJAC serves to provide environmental justice perspective directly to U.S. EPA administrators. The group meets in person twice a year and discusses several several topics. In San Diego, the group covered Drought issues, Goods Movement, and US/Mexico Border pollution…
The Department of Pesticide Regulation traveled to Lamont to hold a scoping workshop for their update to rules regarding pesticide use around schools. Unsurprisingly, this is an incredibly complex conversation and something that is very important for many residents in the San Joaquin Valley. The meeting was poorly planned and showed the Departments inability or lack of interest to provide a space for residents to voice their opinions…
The following is testimony delivered to the Senate Natural Resources Committee by CCEJN Director, Cesar Campos.
“Good morning. My name is Cesar Campos and I am the Director for Central California Environmental Justice Network…
A proposed 600-megawatt natural gas power plant near Avenal in limbo for more than half a decade appears to have imploded…