Press Release

Valley Air Quality Groups Urge Air Board Not to Delay Clean Air,
Propose Solution to Smog Pollution Crisis

FRESNO, CALIFORNIA (April 25, 2007) - San Joaquin Valley community groups and health advocates are calling on Air District board members to reject a staff proposal to delay meeting the health-based federal smog standard by 11 years until 2024. In a detailed letter, Valley community groups and air quality experts ask the Board to direct Air District staff to develop a real, thorough plan for clean air. The District's Board will meet on April 30th at 11:00 am in Fresno to consider staff's recommended delay.

"If the Board adopts the staff proposal to delay the cleanup of our dirty air, a child born today will have to wait until high school graduation to breathe clean air," said Lisa Kayser-Grant of Moms Clean Air Network in Merced. "That is unacceptable."

Oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC) react in the presence of heat and sunlight to form ozone. Ozone damages lung tissue, exacerbates and causes asthma, reduces lung capacity, increases respiratory and cardiovascular hospital admissions, and increases school and work absenteeism. NOx also reacts with other pollutants to form particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 microns or less (PM2.5).

"Right now, Valley residents bear more than $3 billion every year on costs related to our dirty air," said Tom Frantz, President of the Association of Irritated Residents in Shafter. "That is the equivalent of every Valley resident paying a $1,000 per person annual pollution tax while District staff propose to allow polluters 11 more years to clean up their act."

The groups' letter calls on Board members to enact strict pollution control requirements on sources of smog-forming pollution while pushing for healthy air for all Valley residents by 2017. The letter points to an independent clean-up plan that found that 95% of all needed reductions could be achieved by 2013, the current deadline. The letter also asks for an Environmental Impact Report to assess the health costs and effects from any decision to delay clean-up, and makes a veiled threat at litigation unless the District discloses those effects as required by California law.

The groups also propose a carrot and stick approach called Clean Air Days to control pollution from diesel trucks, construction equipment, and farm equipment, which account for 60% of all NOx pollution. Clean Air Days involves a five-year period for operators of dirty diesel equipment to access public incentive funding for cost-effective retrofit technologies or replacement. After five years, Clean Air Days would phase in, establishing reasonable guidelines on remaining dirty diesel equipment owned by those who choose not to use the incentive funding to clean up. Experts predict Clean Air Days would occur on approximately 30 days of poor air quality in 2012.

"Given the magnitude of the health problem, the Board has a moral obligation to do everything to tackle this problem now," said Kevin Hamilton, a respiratory therapist with Medical Advocates for Healthy Air in Fresno. "Why should Fresno school children be prohibited from playing at recess or playing sports on bad air days while operators of dirty diesel equipment spew pollution? We all must do our share to clean our air."

The air quality advocates call on the Board to take more time to develop a real, thorough plan to clean up the air. A late plan does not change the actual clean-up deadline and only means the Valley has an 18-month grace period to submit a better plan before EPA imposes any sanctions.

"The Governing Board should ensure the Valley's cleanup plan is the best in the United States, not the first one filed," said Kayser-Grant. "Our children deserve nothing less. Period."

The letter asks District Board members to adopt a resolution that calls for revised computer modeling and that:

1. Directs staff to prepare a "severe" plan that attains the standard by 2017 and to bring the plan to the Board for adoption at the November 2007 Board meeting.
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2. Directs staff to immediately prepare a letter from the Board to Robert Sawyer, Chairman, and Catherine Witherspoon, Executive Officer, requesting that the Air Resources Board adopt mobile source NOx reductions sufficient to attain by 2017.
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3. Directs staff to prepare a Clean Air Days rule, supported by incentive funding, for mobile diesel sources if and only if the Air Resources Board cannot deliver sufficient mobile source NOx reductions.
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4. Directs staff to secure guaranteed sources of incentive funding to include in the plan to ensure EPA-approvability, as well as the viability of incentives as a strategy. This funding includes state bond funding, federal funding, as well as fees on sources of pollution.
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5. Directs staff to prepare an Environmental Impact Report to analyze the health impacts of the options before the Board.

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The Central Valley Air Quality (CVAQ) coalition is a partnership of more than 70 community, medical, public health, environmental and environmental justice organizations representing thousands of residents in the San Joaquin Valley that are unified in their commitment to improve the health of Californians by (a) seeking full and vigorous enforcement of the federal Clean Air Act in the San Joaquin Valley, (b) strengthening State law and District regulations relating to air quality, and (c) educating the public about the serious health impacts of air pollution.

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