The San Joaquin Valley has not been able to meet the goals set by the federal government for fine particles also known as PM2.5. This is a serious public health problem, given that this pollutant causes numerous respiratory problems (asthma, COPD) and chronic exposure is even correlated to increased cardiovascular diseases. While our entire region suffers from the worst air quality in the nation, not everybody is impacted equally, those impacted the most are communities of color. Unfortunately, we are not hopeful that this problem might change soon because our regulatory agencies continue to delay the adoption of more stringent measures to clean our air.
On July 25th, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) met and voted to approve the State Implementation Plan (SIP) for the 2012 fine particulate matter (PM2.5) standard. CARB approved this plan despite the numerous public comments asking them not to do it.
It did not matter that CARB board held this approval meeting in Sacramento (disregarding the request of advocates to hold this meeting in Fresno), advocates led by the Central California Environmental Justice Network (CCEJN) hosted three watch parties. Over a hundred residents from different Central Valley communities (Bakersfield, Arvin, Buttonwillow, Lost Hills, Terra Bella, Cantua Creed, Avenal, Coalinga, Fresno, Kings) gathered in Fresno, Avenal, and Arvin to attend these watch parties. At these events, community members were given the opportunity to voice their concerns and share how pollution has impacted their lives. The message was made clear to the board: we don’t want to wait for our community’s health to be prioritized over the industry that pollutes our air. We need stronger regulations now!