Kern County- The Valley A.I.R.* has issued an unhealthy air pollution alert this morning for most of the south Valley from Turlock to Bakersfield. This is due to normal wintertime atmospheric conditions which mixes the emissions from diesel trucks and oil fields with massive amounts of ammonia from factory dairies.
Thousands of older, dirty diesel trucks are common year-round on the valley floor spewing diesel particulates and excessive NOx emissions. The oil fields continue all winter to flare unwanted gases, plus they burn coal and other dirty fuels to produce steam for injection in hundreds of boilers. Oil producers also dump millions of gallons of steaming and toxic “produced” water into hundreds of acres of open ponds daily. Milk factories pump out their lagoons at this time of year which emits hundreds of tons of ammonia gas daily into the ground level wet haze covering the valley like a blanket this time of year.
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Nine Valley organizations were announced as the beneficiaries of 10 grants from the board of directors at the Fresno Regional Foundation (FRF), adding up to $216,200.
The grants are intended to address environmental and overall health issues in the Valley.
“The Foundation believes the restoration of our rivers, clean air and a healthy living environment are crucial to improving the quality of life of all residents in the San Joaquin Valley, especially for our children,” said Dan DeSantis, FRF CEO, in a release.
The San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust, Inc., San Joaquin River Stewardship Program and San Joaquin Valley Leadership Forum each received grants in regards to the restoration of the San Joaquin River.
Proteus, Inc. and the Fresno Metro Ministry each were given $17,500 grants for their community health measures.
Grid Alternatives, Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice, Californians for Pesticide Reform, Fresno Metro Ministries and Global Community Monitor were given funding to address the poor air quality in the Valley.
Bakersfield has reclaimed first place in the “worst air pollution in the valley (nation)” category over the past four days. Pity that the huge Garces soccer tournament had to take place during this bad air episode. Hundreds of highschool boys and girls played games with the air in the “red zone” this weekend. Where was the Air Board? Smiling on billboards asking people not to light their fireplaces. Only problem with that is Friday (12.16.11) was a burn day across the valley. Too bad for residents of Fresno and Bakersfield that the Air Board missed badly on that decision.
Former Grayson resident and Patterson High School graduate Arsenio Mataka was appointed assistant secretary of environmental justice for the California Environmental Protection Agency, officials from Gov. Jerry Brown’s office announced Friday, Dec. 16.
Mataka, a Sacramento Democrat, has served as directing attorney for California Rural Legal Assistance since April 2011 after serving as a staff attorney there starting in 2010. He was a consultant at Mataka Consulting from 2009 to 2010 and an American Bar Association diversity fellow in environmental law in the office of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in 2008.
Grayson native Arsenio Mataka has pondered environmental justice from the days of his youth, when his activist parents, John and Rosenda Mataka, would discuss the impact of water- and air-quality issues on minority communities of the West Side.
Starting Jan. 1, he will take his passion to the state level, as Gov. Jerry Brown appointed him last week as the California Environmental Protection Agency’s assistant secretary of environmental justice.
California’s San Joaquin Valley is a place of contradictions. It has some of the most productive and wealth-generating agricultural lands on the planet, but many of the people who live in this region live in poverty, confront environmental contamination, and face serious health risks. Despite efforts to alleviate these problems, the region’s poor air and water quality, concentrated poverty, and uneven access to educational and other opportunities continue to afflict the Valley. Additionally, sustainability of the Valley’s economy is increasingly dependent on the health and well-being of the all of the region’s residents across its diverse rural and urban communities.
A lawsuit which delayed and once threatened to dismantle California’s greenhouse gas (GHG) cap and trade scheme was largely resolved last week, removing one roadblock to California’s plan to be the first state to impose an economy-wide GHG trading program.
A dozen Kettleman City residents protested at the Valley air board meeting Thursday, saying officials didn’t give the town a real chance to talk about a permit renewal for the largest toxic-waste landfill west of the Mississippi.
The farmworker town of 1,500 has been battling for years against the nearby Waste Management landfill, which residents suspect is connected to birth defects, illnesses and deaths in their community.
The renewal of the landfill’s federal operating permit, called a Title V permit, gives the public a chance to make comments and ask questions about the landfill. The landfill is regulated as a major source of ozone-making pollution, greenhouse gases and hazardous air pollutants.
The San Joaquin Air Pollution Control District sent public-meeting notices about the renewal to only two people in the town of 1,500 residents, said activist Maricela Mares-Alatorre, who received one of the notices.
“It’s a joke, but it’s not funny,” she told the board. “We have a right to participate.”
Bishop Stephen Blaire did not seek out environmental stewardship as a theme he would champion when he was named bishop of the Diocese of Stockton, but environmental stewardship certainly found him.
It was a natural fit. Bishop Blaire can recall a burning chest after playing handball as a youngster growing up in the polluted San Fernando Valley in the 1950s. Then, upon arriving in Stockton 12 years ago, he once again settled in a region with some of the nation’s dirtiest air. He felt a responsibility to do something about it, as a resident and as a bishop.
“We have an overriding principle that we have to take care of this world that we live in,” Bishop Blaire said in a widely noted speech to the interfaith Festival of Faiths in Louisville Nov. 7.
“We serve God when we care for all living beings by protecting the air which is God’s gift to us,” he said. “As stewards of God’s creation we can live more simply, using the earth’s resources wisely, reducing our consumption, working to eliminate air pollution and reducing our carbon footprint.”