On May 17, 2012, the only area in the Central Valley to record a violation of the 8-hour ozone standard was the foothill region represented by an air monitor that used to be called “Ash Mountain”. This monitor is run by Kings Canyon National Park and is located next to the community of Three Rivers, just inside the park entrance and a short distance below the park headquarters. The elevation is approximately 1700 feet. The Sierras quickly climb towards the east in this area to over 10,000 feet.
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.
Tulare County Supervisors Tuesday agreed to send a letter of concern to the State Water Resources Control Board that is considering steps to address the nitrate in drinking water issue.
County officials are concerned the state will take action, possibly a surcharge on ag chemicals, without a full study of what is causing the nitrate problem.
Nitrate has shown up in domestic drinking water wells in many areas of the San Joaquin Valley, including East Porterville and the west side of the county. For years the finger has been pointed at agriculture for causing nitrates.
It will take both short-term and long-term solutions to ensure that all San Joaquín Valley residents have access to clean and affordable drinking water. The 2012 Human Right to Water bill package, which is currently making its way through the legislature, could establish some of those long-term solutions.
Last week, I spoke with Assemblymember Henry T. Perea, who is the author of two of the bills in the package.
For a good part of its rich history, residents of unincorporated Allensworth, the first African American colony west of the Mississippi, have gone without a reliable supply of safe drinking water.
This is still the case today, where the Tulare County community’s wells – which provide water to the neighboring Colonel Allensworth State Historical Parkthat commemorates the area’s legacy – exceed federal levels for arsenic.
First came the inexplicable birth defects.
At least 11 babies were born with major structural birth defects in Kettleman City, in rural Kings County, between 2007 and March 2010, according to a 2010 report by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH.) The report found there was no specific cause or environmental exposure that led to the defects.
Today, residents say a new health issue is emerging in this small farmworker community located near the intersection of State Route 41 and Interstate 5.
A 17-month old boy has leukemia, a 6-year-old has a brain tumor, and two teenagers have had tumors removed, said Maricela Mares-Alatorre, a longtime resident and a leader of the community’s environmental justice organization. Three residents — all between the ages of 40 and 50 — have died of cancer in the past six months, she said.
During a Zócalo Public Square event on Monday evening, an outstanding panel will tackle a huge question: Why is the Central Valley sick?
The identification of “environmental justice (EJ) communities” is an increasingly common element in environmental planning, policy, and regulation. As a result, the choice of methods to define and identify these communities is a critical and often contentious process. This contentiousness is, in turn, a factor of the lack of a commonly accepted method, the concern among many EJ advocates and some regulators that existing frameworks are inadequate, and ultimately, the significant consequences of such designations for both public policy and community residents. With the aim of assisting regulators and advocates to more strategically focus their efforts, the authors developed a Cumulative Environmental Vulnerability Assessment (CEVA). This CEVA is composed of a Cumulative Environmental Hazard Index and a Social Vulnerability Index, with a Health Index as a reference. Applying CEVA produces spatial analysis that identifies the places that are subject to both the highest concentrations of cumulative environmental hazards and the fewest social, economic and political resources to prevent, mitigate, or adapt to these conditions. We recommended that these areas receive special consideration in permitting, monitoring, and enforcement actions, as well as investments in public participation, capacity building, and community economic development.
California failed to protect the San Joaquin Valley from fertilizer, dairy and septic contamination now threatening drinking water from thousands of wells, says the leader of the responsible state agency.
But Pamela Creedon, executive officer of the Central Valley Regional Water Control Board, says her agency is working on ways to make up for the past.
“We have more than 50% of our resources focused in groundwater programs, and we’re expanding our efforts,” said Creedon.
Creedon spoke in Clovis on Thursday after a University of California at Davis researcher described his study on the Valley’s vast water contamination from nitrates, which he linked mostly to farm fertilizing and dairy practices in the past.
Host: Dolores Weller, Associate Director, CVAQ
Guest(s): Ed Smith from the Fresno County Bicycle Coalition discusses the coalition’s engagement in Fresno’s general plan, SB 375 work and bike month activities.