Fresno, CA

The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District is made up of three Valley city representatives, plus eleven governing board with representatives from Board of Supervisors of all eight Valley counties: San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare, and Kern. The purpose of the District is to “improve the health and quality of life for all Valley residents.” Funding for the District comes from three sources: permit fees by paid by businesses within the Valley, a $7 surcharge for every vehicle registered in the District, and federal and state grants.

Although studies have shown the main causes of the Valley’s pollution to be agriculture, diesel trucks, and diesel buses, the District has put regulations on wood burning. The Valley has only three months of cold weather. On winter days when pollution levels are high the District announces restrictions on wood burning, called Spare the Air days.

The District has adopted what it calls the “Fast Track to clean air.” Launched in June 2007, Fast Track is “designed to clean up the valley’s air sooner than the 2024 federal attainment deadline.” Fast Track is composed of three aspects:

• Expedited regulations by the state Air Resources Board and the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency;
• Significant increases in incentive funding to be used in the Valley;
• Innovative emission-reduction measures.

Fast Track includes strategies and initiatives to cut Valley pollution. Among the strategies is green contracting, where the District would “compel cities and counties…to select contractors/vendors that use low-emission fleets and processes.”

Short-sea shipping goods between northern and southern California to reduce the trucks and trains passing through the Valley is another Fast Track initiative. The District admits short-sea shipping will “take a long time to implement.”

“Valley smog has been reduced by 80 percent since the 1980s, and the District is continuing to take a leadership role to reach attainment as soon as possible,” Seyed Sadredin, the Air District’s Executive Director/Air Pollution Control Officer, said. “Those who champion clean air are invited to join us in developing this ‘Fast Track’ plan to clean the valley’s air.”

Despite Sadredin’s optimism regarding the Valley’s air quality, the American Lung Association ranked Fresno number four in their 2007 list of the 26 most polluted cities. Four other Valley cities made the list: Bakersfield (2nd), Visalia (3rd), Modesto (13th), and Hanford (14th).