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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.
On February 20th, 2019 CEJA partnered with the Catholic Charities Environmental Justice Program to lead a community-wide workshop on the SB 1000 law for the San Joaquin County area. Hosted at the Fathers and Families of San Joaquin community center, the workshop lifted up recent best practices and lessons learned from integrating environmental justice (EJ) into General Plans, while also providing a space for the public to discuss pressing EJ problems and solutions for different communities….
Municipal zoning laws across the country have fueled segregation and deepened environmental injustices, but grassroots organizations are now reforming zoning laws to provide protections from industrial pollution, as detailed in a new analysis released today by the Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and partner environmental organizations. Forty land use and zoning policies from 23 cities, three counties, and two utilities around the country — including policies in the county’s most populated cities — were examined to provide a national resource for communities that are tackling environmental injustices in land use policies…
It was one of those applause lines that made us want to cheer and boo at the same time. During his recent State of the State address, California Gov. Gavin Newsom noted, “Just this morning, more than a million Californians woke up without clean water to bathe in, let alone drink.” He called it a “moral disgrace and a medical emergency.”
Indeed, it is. For years, some rural, mostly poor communities in California’s agricultural San Joaquin Valley have suffered without potable water.
Municipal zoning laws across the country have fueled segregation and deepened environmental injustices, but grassroots organizations are now reforming zoning laws to provide protections from industrial pollution, as detailed in a new analysis released today by the Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and partner environmental organizations. Forty land use and zoning policies from 23 cities, three counties, and two utilities around the country — including policies in the county’s most populated cities — were examined to provide a national resource for communities that are tackling environmental injustices in land use policies…
In his first State of the State address, Gov. Gavin Newsom proved that his map of California does in fact include the San Joaquin Valley, the Inland Empire and other back-bone communities too often ignored.
The Valley has a justified history of distrust toward statewide politicians. As the former mayor of San Francisco, it’s easy to pigeonhole the new governor as another big-city politician out of touch with the unique issues of rural and inland communities. But after the Governor’s address, a lot of folks are rethinking their skepticism.
We don’t need to agree on the solution to every problem, but it is refreshing that Gov. Newsom’s vision for the future of California actually includes us…
Dozens of people from various cities, agencies and backgrounds gathered Wednesday to learn about Senate Bill 1000 and environmental justice practices that can help their communities.
The San Joaquin SB1000 Community Workshop, organized by Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Stockton and the California Environmental Justice Alliance, gave people an opportunity to discuss environmental issues they see in their respective neighborhoods, learn about the law, as well as what actions individuals can take to make sure communities are adopting environmental justice practices in their general plans…
A community workshop on environmental justice will be held at 5 p.m. Feb. 20 at Fathers and Families of San Joaquin, 338 E. Market St.
The event, being held by Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Stockton, the California Environment Justice Alliance and Fathers and Families of San Joaquin will focus on Senate Bill 1000, or the Planning for Healthy Communities Act.
According to organizers, the San Joaquin SB1000 Community Workshop will offer information about the law and best practices for implementing environmental justice to address historical inequities in zoning and land use planning. Bernadette Austin, associate director of the UC Davis Center for Regional Change, will be a guest speaker at the event…
A controversial oilfield wastewater disposal operation east of Bakersfield has been shut down amid a years-long regulatory crackdown and opposition by environmental activist organizations.
The Jan. 3 closure of Valley Water Management Co.’s Fee 34 and Race Track Hill facilities, which sprayed wastewater on the hillsides south of Breckenridge Road for more than half a century with little notice, puts an end to a practice regional water quality regulators say threatened to foul Bakersfield’s water supply through a slow process of underground migration…
Given the ever-present and increasing threat climate change poses to all Californians, and the role tropical deforestation plays in escalating that threat, Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-San Jose), along with Assemblymember Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica), Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella), and Assemblymember Eloise Reyes (D-San Bernardino), and accompanied by co-sponsors Social Compassion in Legislation and Friends of the Earth, today announced the introduction of AB 572, the California Deforestation-Free Procurement Act…