¿Sabe usted? Las cosas aquí en el valle suceden a un ritmo muy lento. Suceden todos los días. Están tan aceptadas y son una parte tan cotidiana de la vida que no se les da importancia. Pero si de repente te percataras y en un solo día calleras en la cuenta de todos los pesticidas que has usado en esta zona, entonces te darías cuenta del impacto que eso ha tenido.
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.
Esto sucedió en mayo de 1999; había un hombre rociando por ahí y la neblina había penetrado en la casa. Ni siquiera apagaba el equipo de fumigación cuando salía a la carretera. Lo que fuera que estaba rociando había penetrado en la casa. Todos mis niños vomitaban y mi esposo había salido del pueblo así que yo estaba sola. No sabía si subirlos todos al carro y sacarlos de ahí. La neblina afuera daba la sensación de estar en Londres, y con la neblina dentro la casa parecía que estábamos en San Francisco. No sabía si dejar que los niños siguieran durmiendo o si debía sacarlo donde era más peligroso. Así fue que llamé al departamento de bomberos y al sheriff y ambos lugares me dijeron lo mismo: “El finquero tiene derecho a producir. Usted no se puede quejar de eso”. Y yo les respondí: “Pero no sé si nos vamos a morir aquí o qué es lo que nos va a pasar. La cosa está muy mal aquí. Yo sé que él tiene que fumigar, estoy consciente de ello, solo díganle que apague su equipo cuando salga de entre las viñas”. ¿Alguna vez ha visto un tractor de fumigación? Parece un monstruo. Se escucha un ruido y te asomas a mirarlo y se ven luces. Sucedió en la noche así que dijeron que no podían venir. Yo les dije que mejor vinieran y vieran lo que estaba pasando. Quería que quedara constancia de que los había llamado.
Quería hablar con la gente y decirles que cuando los médicos e instituciones como el departamento de bomberos u otras te digan que no sucede nada… porque eso es lo que harán; te van a decir que no está pasando nada. Te dirán: “Oh, es un caso de histeria colectiva, andan crudos”, o “Es algo que comieron lo que les está causando la náusea”. No, es por los pesticidas; no tengan duda de ello. Es por los pesticidas. Y siempre quiero decirles que tienen que denunciar los casos de deriva de pesticidas. Es la ley del estado; la deriva es ilegal, no debería ocurrir. Los finqueros fumigan los campos, los pesticidas de dispersan desde ahí, penetran en tu automóvil, en tu propiedad, llegan hasta el parque donde te encuentras. Tienes que denunciarlo. Estoy tratando de que la gente lo entienda pero aún no lo hacen. El número de denuncias es muy bajo.
Air pollution in the San Joaquin Valley has suddenly become a $29 million a year problem.
Of course, the real cost is much greater as businesses struggle to comply with clean-air regulations, and those who suffer from foul air seek medical treatment.
But just about all of us are paying for the Valley’s notorious pollution, through a new $12 DMV fee to cover a $29 million federal penalty for failing to meet even an outdated ozone standard.
It’s true that most of the Valley’s foul air is south of Stockton. Nevertheless, north Valley residents belong to the same air district and are subject to the same rules and regulations. And besides, what belches out of north Valley vehicle tailpipes today might become the south Valley’s asthma-inducing ozone tomorrow.
As the stakes increase, much scrutiny and rhetoric has marked debate over the Valley’s progress toward clean air. Some air-quality officials’ claims have been met with sharp criticism from public-health advocacy groups.
If the need is obvious and the money is there, why make poor people suffer?
This is the question for Gov. Jerry Brown following Bee reporter Mark Grossi’s three-part series on the drinking water crisis in rural San Joaquin Valley communities.
I ask because who better than Brown to fix a problem begging for leadership?
The governor has the power. And, in the past, he has shown interest in the issues that intersect in tiny Tulare County farmworker communities such as Tooleville and Seville: poverty, health, environmental protection and cutting government bureaucracy.
The question is, will Brown come to the rescue, or will mothers in these towns keep lugging 5-gallon jugs of water from the store so they can cook with something uncontaminated?
Allensworth, CA – Saturday, October 8, 2011, the residents of the small community of Allensworth joined with State Park officials, Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment and South Central Farmers Coop to begin on a fruitful journey on restoring a Historic Garden/Community Farming project at the park. The State Park has offered to make accessible some plots of land for community residents to be able to garden under the Volunteer in Parks program (VIP). This will benefit the Park and the community. The Park receives interested persons to cultivate and maintain a living display of our agricultural heritage, while the volunteers receive the end product.
In 2010 there were two monitors measuring ozone on the outskirts of Arvin. The old monitor was 3 miles east on Bear Mtn Blvd and the new one was slightly further away to the northeast near a country school called Di Giorgio. The Bear Mtn monitor had been in place for around 20 years.
Background: The air quality in the San Joaquin Valley has gradually improved over time due to smog rules for cars and a gradual tightening of rules for stationary sources of pollution such as water pumps and boilers. Everyone agrees we have a long way to go before we have clean air in the Southern end of the valley. The improvement has slowest in the Arvin area due to geography. The Arvin Bear Mtn monitor, over the past five years, was measuring the most violations for one-hour and 8-hour ozone standards. In fact, it was measuring more of these typess of violations than any other place in the United States. The bottom line was the SJV would never be declared in compliance with Clean Air Act standards until the Arvin air was clean.
SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. announced today that he has signed a series of bills to help ensure the availability of clean drinking water to all Californians.
“Clean drinking water is a basic human right,” said Governor Brown. “The bills I have signed today will help ensure that every Californian has access to clean and safe sources of water. Protecting the water we drink is an absolutely crucial duty of state government.”
Following is a list of the bills signed by Governor Brown:
- AB 54 by Assemblymember Jose Solorio (D-Santa Ana) – Drinking water.
- AB 938 by Assemblymember V. Manuel Pérez (D-Coachella) – Public water systems.
- AB 983 by Assemblymember Henry Perea (D-Fresno) – Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund.
- AB 1194 by Assemblymember Marty Block (D-San Diego) – Drinking water.
- AB 1221 by Assemblymember Luis Alejo (D-Salinas) – State Water Quality Control Fund: State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account.
- AB 1292 by Assemblymember Roger Hernandez (D-Baldwin Park) – Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund: revenue bonds.
- SB 244 by Senator Lois Wolk (D-Davis) – Local government: land use: general plan: disadvantaged unincorporated communities.
Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday signed seven bills aimed at improving drinking water quality.
It was the second round of good news this week for people in poor Valley towns with poor drinking water, following the state agreeing to update a plan for improving small water systems.
Nitrates, arsenic and other drinking water pollutants are common in parts of the San Joaquin Valley, especially Tulare County, focus of a three-part series in The Bee earlier this week called “Don’t Drink the Water.” Efforts to solve the problem are hindered by the communities’ poverty, their inability to hold the attention of agencies that control funding and bureaucratic red tape that has delayed simple fixes.
Most of the bills signed Friday were part of a package introduced this year to help rural residents deal with bad tap water.
Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law AB 1221 by Assemblyman Luis Alejo (D-Salinas). The bill, part of the “Human Right to Water” legislative package, allows disadvantaged communities and recognized California Native American tribes to seek funding for safe drinking water services.
A collaboration between environmental justice groups and the State Water Resources Control Board, the law gives disadvantaged communities access to money from the State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Fund to address sewer and water contamination issues. Previously, funds were only available to public agencies, excluding many entities the program is designed to serve.