The San Joaquin Valley is one of the nation’s smoggiest regions and — not surprisingly — home to some of the highest childhood asthma rates. But for parents, it can be hard to know when it’s safe for their kids to play outside. Air quality activists say that’s because local regulators don’t issue effective public health warnings.
At a recent outdoor water polo game at Fresno’s Sunnyside High, none of the parents seemed to have any idea that their kids were playing while air pollution spiked to levels considered unhealthy for everyone’s lungs.
The school district’s policy is to cancel games when it gets as bad as it was on that afternoon but the water polo tournament, a football game, and track practice were all in full swing.
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.
The just finished month of October had more violations of the 8-hour federal ozone standard than any October since 2003. There were ten violations this year, many of them in Southern Kern County. The second highest total over the eight year period from 2004-2011 was eight plus 2006 and 2007 had none.
The 2010 Stanislaus County Asthma Report Card explained that roughly 13 percent of county residents have experienced asthma. Children under 17 have the highest rate of emergency room visits due to severe asthma events. The more polluted the air, the greater the risk of triggering an asthma attack. Clean air matters.
The American Lung Association in 2009 ranked Stanislaus County as the 20th worst county for polluted air out of 3,141 counties. That means for every 100 counties in America, 99 counties had cleaner air than Stanislaus County. Despite fewer pollution violations than decades ago, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District is still ranked the second worst in the nation behind Los Angeles.
LATHROP – This wasn’t a day to worry about pollution. The air was crisp, the sky was (mostly) blue, and a slight breeze came from the west.
But not every day feels so fresh, as 12-year-old Taylor Gapuz – and her inhaler – can attest.
Not every day is for running or playing.
“When I can’t breathe, it gets scary,” Taylor said. “It hurts. Once I had to go to the hospital in an ambulance.” Taylor, who has asthma, helped Mossdale School raise its first air-quality flag Thursday.
Hundreds of other schools up and down the San Joaquin Valley already use similar color-coded flags to alert both students and adults about pollution levels when they arrive at school each day.
The Central Valley Air Quality Coalition hosts a radio show on KFCF 88.1 FM, which airs on the 4th Friday of every month from 3:00-3:30pm. On the show you will hear interviews with individuals at the forefront of air quality issues, policy and research. KFCF can be heard from Merced to Delano and live at www.kfcf.org. KFCF broadcasts Pacifica’s KPFA station to the Central Valley as well.
10/28/11 – Arvin Air Monitoring Brigade
Hosts- Dolores Weller
Guest(s): Denny Larson, Global Community Monitor
Two projects in the Central Valley aimed at protecting children from environment health hazards were awarded $198,000 of grants on Wednesday.
“Safeguarding the health of children is one of our most important responsibilities, and an issue that is very dear to me,” said Jared Blumenfeld, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest, in a release. “This funding will provide critical tools such as information, training and education to communities that are most in need.”
The Building Community Capacity to Monitor, Track, and Address Environmental Health Hazards and Improve Children’s Health Outcomes in California’s San Joaquin Valley project in Kern and Tulare counties is conducted by the Pesticide Action Network of North America. The project received $98,000 to assist with its work to “monitor, track, and address environmental health issues that impact children.”
The Kettleman City water fix is inching closer to reality. With an environmental assessment on the proposed surface water treatment plant and commercial water tanks now complete, Kings County planners are seeking feedback from the public.
On Tuesday, the Kings County Community Development Department released a 96-page document concluding that the project’s impacts would be kept to a minimum with mitigation measures. Such negative declarations — a routine procedure for low-impact projects — spared the Kettleman City Community Services District from doing a time-consuming and expensive environmental impact report process.
Concerned residents and members of the public have until Nov. 14 to send in comments.
A private dump taking garbage from LA sends two brothers, ages 16 and 22, into a drainage pipe for cleaning purposes. They have no protective gear and die from the fumes. The Center on Race Poverty and the Environment helps community members protest this tragedy and demand the facility be shut down.
MONSON – Lala Luengas and her husband, Benjamin, have been waiting 20 years for a new well and safe water in their farmworker town north of Visalia.
They are still waiting, they told a state official who toured their town of 200 on Tuesday.
The well water here is often laced with chemicals that come from sewage, farm fertilizers and dairy waste – a common problem in many parts of Tulare County.
Now in their 70s, the Luengas haven’t given up on getting safe water, but their reasons have changed.
“At our age, we’re already on our way out,” Benjamin said in Spanish through a translator. “We want better water for future generations.”
Remember our discussion about this never-ending smog season perhaps coming to a close two weeks ago? Didn’t happen.
The San Joaquin Valley now leads the nation in ozone violations with 109. There were consecutive violations over the last three days.
Does the Valley keep going in November? Last year, the last one happened on Nov. 5, which is long after ozone problems stop in most parts of the country.