More than 1 million people in the San Joaquin Valley are at high risk for illnesses and shortened lives because of dirty air, bad water, pesticides and their own poverty, UC Davis researchers said Monday.
Public health agencies must recognize the big connection among health problems, poverty and a toxic environment, according to a three-year study of cumulative health risks in the Valley.
Local agencies, regional and state officials and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency need to use the study to prioritize monitoring and community improvements, said environmental scientist Jonathan London, the main author of the study.
“This is not just another report highlighting the problems of the Valley,” he said. “This is a call for action on the part of public agencies.”
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About 1.2 million of the nearly 4 million residents living in the San Joaquin Valley face extreme levels of environmental hazards and social vulnerability that can lead to poor health, according to a study released Monday.
An additional 1.9 million people face elevated levels of the same risks, the study found.
In Merced County, the only community with a “very high health vulnerability” was El Nido, while Merced and Livingston have a “high health vulnerability.”
The Kern County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday evening to fine Community Recycling & Resource Recovery Inc. at least $2.33 million for land use and related violations at its Lamont composting facility.
At one point, the supervisors considered a fine twice that amount, but they didn’t want the fine to be construed as “excessive.”
Kern County supervisors will hold a hearing today on the circumstances surrounding the deaths of two young men working at Community Recycling in Lamont last month.
This facility has broken county rules before and received only a slap on the wrist.
This time there has to be a real consequence. Kern County should not be receiving trash from Los Angeles, at great profit for Community Recycling, without strict adherence to rules including those that ensure the safety of their workers. When the City of Oxnard violated the rules at their sewage sludge farm near Wasco in 2006, they lost their chance to do business here. This is much more serious and the consequence should be no less.
State Sen. Michael Rubio reentered the controversy over what to do about Community Recycling & Resource Recovery Inc., stating Monday that the county Board of Supervisors should close Lamont’s controversial composting operation and find someone else to run it.
According a new study reduced by UC Davis says over 1,000,000 people in the Valley face serious health risks due to environmental and social factors.
There are over 4,000,000 people living in the valley, of that, more than a million people’s health is being compromised. The study says it’s due to bad air, lack of clean drinking water and exposure to pesticides and other chemicals.
This report is based on a three year study by the UC Davis Center for Regional Change, in affiliation with the Environmental Justice Project of the John Muir Institute of the Environment and with funding from the Ford Foundation. It highlights the places and populations in the San Joaquin Valley that are challenged by high levels of environmental hazards and high levels of social vulnerability that can lead to poor health conditions. It is intended to assist policy makers and public agency leaders to better prioritize actions to protect the health of the region’s residents and to build healthy communities. In particular, the analysis in this report supports the recommendation that public policies must address these hazards in a coordinated way rather than the segmented approach of the current regulatory system.
While California’s San Joaquin Valley is home to some of the nation’s richest agricultural resources, half of the people who live and work there face elevated levels of air and water pollution coupled with poverty, limited education, language barriers, and racial and ethnic segregation, according to a three-year UC Davis study.
The study, “Land of Risk/Land of Opportunity,” also found that residents of the region report more environmental hazards than are currently documented or addressed by state agencies.
“Our conclusion is that immediate and comprehensive action is needed by local, regional and state policymakers to protect the health and well-being of the region’s most vulnerable residents,” said study leader Jonathan London, director of the UC Davis Center for Regional Change and an assistant professor of human and community development.
County staff are alleging new violations of worker safety, public health and land-use rules at the Lamont composting facility where two brothers are believed to have inhaled fatal doses of toxic fumes last month.
The charges, some alleging previously undisclosed problems as recent as August and February, were listed in a public notice of next week’s hearing on whether to modify, suspend or even revoke the operating permit of the company, Community Recycling & Resource Recovery Inc.
It was unclear how serious the alleged safety violations were, because a staff report detailing the accusations is not expected to be released until Thursday afternoon. But if the company is found to be in violation of any conditions set forth in its county-issued operating permit, the county Board of Supervisors, under community pressure because of last month’s deaths, could decide to take action against the company.
KINGS COUNTY, Calif. – A permit process to expand a hazardous waste facility in Kings County is about to get a restart. Stalled for two years due to concerns over health risks, facility officials say positive findings in a wide range of studies show it’s time to let them get back to doing what they do best.
No link between birth defects in Kettleman City and a nearby hazardous waste facility. State health investigators released those findings last January after an unprecedented and exhaustive series of studies. And those findings came like music to the ears of the company that owns and runs the facility — Waste Management.