It was chile peppers, not strawberries, that saw the first use of cancer-causing methyl iodide to sterilize California soil. And today, community leaders from Fresno and throughout the Central Valley gathered at the Fresno County Agricultural Commissioner’s office to urge officials to stop any future use of the chemical in their community.
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On May 19, the Fresno Bee reported that the controversial pesticide methyl iodide had been injected into the soil on a one-acre chile pepper farm near Sanger.
That application represented the first time the pesticide has been used in California since it was approved by the state Department of Pesticide Regulation in December, according to the Bee.
Today, farmworkers and environmental activists protested the use of methyl iodide outside of the Fresno County Agricultural Commissioner’s office. They called on the commissioner to prevent further use of the chemical.
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Every time I drive down to Bakersfield from the mountains surrounding the Central Valley, I take a big breath at the top of the Grapevine on I-5, and try not to breathe the air on the flatlands below.
Forbes magazine declared Bakersfield “the dirtiest city in America” and the American Lung Association names Bakersfield’s air quality the worst in the nation. I’m sure Bakersfield residents wish they had the option of not breathing the air as well. Ask any parent of a child with asthma.
That’s why it came as a surprise to silly me when the Air Board took the step of supporting Congressman Kevin McCarthy’s bill (H.R. 1582) which would sidestep applying the 2008 federal eight-hour ozone standard for five years to provide time for a local feasibility study. Has the Valley’s air quality not previously been adequately studied?
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After a series of legal twists that led to a stinging rebuke from a federal judge last week, U.S. EPA has decided to exempt a planned natural gas power plant in California’s San Joaquin Valley from new air pollution rules, including limits on greenhouse gas emissions.
The agency announced the approval late Friday of the 600-megawatt Avenal Power Center, a project just north of the towns of Avenal and Kettleman City, which requested an air pollution permit in 2008. The final permit (pdf) will spare the plant from new limits on sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and greenhouse gases, all of which were put in place after the project was proposed.
SAN FRANCISCO — Opposition to cap and trade, a regulatory tool for curbing greenhouse gas emissions, normally comes from the right end of the political spectrum, where it is derided as “cap and tax.”
But in California it is the political left that has been most successful in challenging the effort, creating a legal speed bump of sorts that might even delay the nation’s first statewide cap-and-trade system, set to start on Jan. 1.
The recent events in Wisconsin have triggered a reawakening across the United States of a movement that acknowledges the importance of worker rights and of protecting the livelihoods of this country’s working class. Historically, however, one group of workers has routinely been excluded from the gains made by the larger labor movement, i.e. farmworkers—the people who weed, pick, harvest, and pack, often in 100 degree weather, while routinely being exposed to hazardous chemicals.
Approximately 700,000 farmworkers reside in California at any given time. Farm employment is unstable and the average farmworker is employed for only seven months of the year (nine months in California). For female workers the employment season is even shorter. Jobs are scarce, even during high season. In California, about 350,000 jobs are available from April to October and 275,000 from November to March. Historically, migrant workers returned home during the winter months. However, with the increased militarization of the border, this practice has become harder and many migrants remain in the U.S. out of fear even in the rainy season when they have little or no income. And although a majority of farmworkers are male, women and children are increasingly crossing the border and entering the workforce, as men can no longer maintain a seasonal migration.
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When the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District governing board meets, it is incumbent upon the members to base their decisions on accurate information as it is their duty to protect public health. In that light, it was extremely irritating to attend the air district board meeting on May 19.
A little background is necessary. Most people know we have a serious ozone (or smog) problem in the valley, especially from Fresno down to Kern County. Exposure to ozone damages the lungs and reduces breathing capacity. It is especially hard on young children and the elderly.
Ozone is formed when the temperatures are high and the exhaust gases from burning fuel mix with gases from evaporating volatile substances like alcohol. Diesel trucks are the largest source of the first item and factory dairies dominate the second.
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.
Clean Air Leadership Institute (CALI) Graduate & SB 375
Hosts- Dolores Weller
Guest(s): Tomeka Powell, CALI Graduate, Grant Writer, Bakersfield resident
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San Francisco’s Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment (CRPE) announced today that it received the judge’s writ in its lawsuit against the California Air Resources Board (CARB). The writ gives the green light to most of the policies advanced under AB32, California’s Global Warming Solutions Act, but puts a permanent hold on cap and trade.
“Judge Ernest Goldsmith of the San Francisco Superior Court ruled that CARB violated CEQA (the California Environmental Quality Act) when, among other things, it failed to properly consider alternatives to a ‘cap and trade’ program in its Scoping Plan to implement AB 32,” CRPE’s statement says. “The Court’s Writ, issued Friday, enjoins, or stops, all implementation and actions in furtherance of cap and trade until CARB completes a lawfully adequate CEQA review.”
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California regulators still might be able to start their greenhouse gas trading program in January 2012, despite a court decision (pdf) last week to stay the first trading system in the United States for greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, oil and gas refineries, transportation fuels and other heavy industries.
Environmental justice advocates had sued over a provision in the California Environmental Quality Act requiring state agencies to analyze the environmental consequences of their policies. The state Air Resources Board (ARB) did not properly consider alternatives to cap and trade when it picked the market-based mechanism to achieve about 20 percent of overall emissions reductions by 2020, the groups alleged.