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.

Assembly wades into L.A.-Central Valley feud on human waste disposal

Article by Melanie Mason. Published January 30, 2014 in Los Angeles Times.

Treated waste exported from Los Angeles and other counties into the Central Valley would be subject to additional testing under a bil approved by the Assembly on Thursday.

The measure, by Assemblyman Rudy Salas Jr. (D-Bakersfield), is the latest show of long-simmering tension in Kern County, where residents have objected to imports of sewage sludge, the semi-solid material leftover after treatment of human waste. The city of Los Angeles owns 4,700 acres in Kern County, where the sewage sludge, also known as “biosolids,” is recycled as fertilizer.

Most experts say such recycled products are safe if handled properly. In response, Salas has pointed to a 2009 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency study, which found a number of heavy metals, pathogens and other worrisome contaminants in sludge samples…

MOVING CALIFORNIA FORWARD: Zero and Low-Emissions Freight Pathways

Report by California Cleaner Freight Coalition. Published January 2014 in Coalition for Clean Air.

CALIFORNIA NEEDS TO CLEAN UP ITS FREIGHT SYSTEM. The challenge is to continue moving goods within and through the state while meeting health-based standards for air pollution, protecting the health and well-being of freight-impacted communities, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Although freight transport is a vital part of a vibrant economy, the air pollution from freight
transport and goods movement has a profoundly negative impact on the health and environment of adjacent communities and on
our global climate. While the impacts of freight transport affect the global, regional and local environments, this pollution disproportionately impacts many low income communities and communities of color living in close proximity to freeways, ports, railyards and facilities with significant diesel truck activity. Many of these low income and people of color communities suffer
a much higher burden of asthma and other illnesses due to pollution from freight transport and the cumulative impacts of many sources of pollution often present in these vulnerable, at-risk communities…

California’s Lingering Drought and Pollution Defy Solutions

Article, Multimedia by Jeremy Miller. Published January 2014 in Circle of Blue.

In the early morning between Los Angeles and Sacramento on Interstate 5 – before unbroken streams of semis crowd the highway, and tractors begin clawing the dry earth, the world is calm.

The dawn interlude, a quiet medley of things seemingly natural, is deceiving. The telling clue is a winding canal that meanders, without a riffle, past sprawling farms and small towns, feedlots and processing plants that mark the plain of California’s Central Valley. The canal’s concrete banks are bounded by chain-link fences and occasionally punctuated by large pumping stations that push the manmade river uphill, not down…

Supervisors weigh huge county needs

Article by Seth Nidever. Published January 29, 2014 in Hanford Sentinel.

Kettleman City residents gave emotional and sometimes angry input about the lousy state of their water, which is laced with benzene and arsenic.

“I feel that Kettleman City is considered like the stepchild,” said Kettleman resident Ramon Mares, speaking in Spanish with an English interpreter. “Kettleman City is in need of many things — sidewalks, streets and mainly water.”

Kettleman residents want to speed up progress toward a long-awaited water treatment plant that will take clean water out of the California Aqueduct instead of sucking it out of polluted aquifers as is done now…

Is The Central Valley’s Air Pollution Affecting Our Cells And Genes?

Article, Radio by Rebecca Plevin. Published January 28, 2014 in Valley Public Radio.

Here in the Central Valley – in one of the most polluted air basins in the country – we know that poor air is bad for our health. We feel it in our eyes and throat, and when we struggle to breathe.

But what if air pollution is affecting us at a deeper, cellular level?

That’s exactly what Dr. Kari Nadeau discovered a few years ago. She’s a Stanford School of Medicine professor with an expertise in asthma and allergies…

Toxic Regulators Questioned at Senate Oversight Hearing

Article by Vicky Nguyen and Felipe Escamilla. Published January 24, 2014 in NBC Bay Area.

Strong words Wednesday from state senators in Sacramento during a four-hour oversight hearing looking into the delays during the permitting process for hazardous waste facilities, and breakdowns in the hazardous waste tracking system at the Department of Toxic Substances Control…

For Latino Voters, Climate Change Is Almost As Important An Issue As Immigration

Article by Katie Valentine. Published January 23, 2014 in Think Progress.

Latinos strongly support efforts to tackle climate change and protect the environment, a new poll has found.

The poll, which was completed for the NRDC by polling firm Latino Decisions, surveyed 805 registered Latino voters and found that about 9 out of 10 respondents favored taking action on climate change, with 92 percent calling for more use of renewable energy and 87 percent agreeing with limits on power plant pollution. Eighty-eight percent of respondents said that it was “extremely to very important” for the government to tackle air pollution, and 75 percent said it was “extremely to very important” for the government to take action on climate change…

One-third in state still live where air does not meet U.S. standards

Article by Tony Barboza. Published January 23, 2014 in Los Angeles Times.

Air pollution in California has dropped significantly over the last decade, yet about one-third of the population lives in communities where the air does not meet federal health standards, state officials reported Thursday.

The evaluation of smog and soot levels was presented at a meeting in Sacramento of the California Air Resources Board, which oversees the state’s progress in cleaning air that remains among the dirtiest in the nation.

Despite falling 15% to 20% in urban areas since 2003, smog remains above federal health standards in parts of Greater Los Angeles, the San Joaquin Valley, Sacramento and San Diego, the board’s report said…

New Report Sets a Course for Cleaner Freight Transportation in California

Blog post published January 22, 2014.

A report released yesterday outlines solutions for overhauling the state’s freight system to protect public health, meet air quality standards and slow the pace of climate change. Freight transportation in California creates air pollution that harms the health of communities exposed to its dangerous emissions and contributes to global warming.

The new study commissioned by the California Cleaner Freight Coalition, Moving California Forward, Zero and Low-Emissions Freight Pathways, evaluates strategies for modernizing how goods are moved through California. By evaluating alternatives to conventional diesel vehicles, the analysis aims to inform a statewide plan for cleaning up freight transportation…

Death Dust: The valley-fever menace

Article by Dana Goodyear. Published January 20, 2014 in The New Yorker.

 In 1977, the San Joaquin Valley—the swath of agricultural land that runs through central California—was designated a disaster area. Record-low runoff and scant rainfall had created drought conditions. At the beginning of Christmas week, the weather was normal in Bakersfield, the city at the Valley’s southern end, but in the early hours of December 20th a strong wind began to blow from the Great Basin through the Tehachapi Mountains. Hitting the ground on the downslope, it lofted a cloud of loose topsoil and mustard-colored dust into the sky…

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