News

Here is a webcast of the board meeting, where BAEHC members asked the Bay Area Air Quality Management District to adopt BAEHC's Cumulative Impacts resolution and work with us on writing regulation to address Cumulative Impacts.

1300 postcards were delivered to BAAQMD that were signed by Bay Area residents asking BAAQMD to adopt BAEHC's recommendations.

This article titled "Playing It Safe: Assessing Cumulative Impact and Social Vulnerability through an Environmental Justice Screening Method in the South Coast Air Basin, California" by James L. Sadd , Manuel Pastor , Rachel Morello-Frosch, Justin Scoggins and Bill Jesdale was just published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

Today the Bay Area Air Quality Management District voted to delay the CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) risk and hazards for receptors threshold to be implemented May 1, 2011. This is another six- month delay. The Air District staff asked the board today for a delay because they've been receiving pressure from developers and affordable housing groups who seem to care more about profits than community health.

"Richmond has the same problems: The Bay Area Environmental Health Collaborative has collated data showing Richmond has both high levels of diesel particulate pollution and the highest levels of child asthma hospitalizations in all of Contra Costa County."

Read more of the article by Anne Brice from the Richmond Confidential:

http://richmondconfidential.org/2010/10/26/the-human-cost-of-pollution/

Members of BAEHC attended the Bay Area Air Quality Management District's Board Community Outreach Committee meeting yesterday, October 25th, 2010, to make public comment on BAAQMD's slow progress around Public Outreach.

Read our Public Participation letter to the board of BAAQMD, and sign on in support as an ally organization!

For years, EJ advocates have struggled against the siting and expansion of polluters in their neighborhoods.  Residents have lived with impacts of exposure to multiple pollution sources, which will only grow with the need for greater transit-friendly housing and jobs.  Yet when advocates have fought against BAAQMD to prevent further pollution in their communities, the response has often been that this is a local land use matter.  BAEHC has urged BAAQMD to collaborate with local jurisdictions to ensure that risks in overburdened communities are

On September 15, 2010, the BAAQMD Board of Directors is scheduled to adopt its 2010 Clean Air Plan (CAP), which sets the air quality agency's regulatory priorities for 2010-2010.  BAEHC recently proposed our own priority recommendations for implementing the CAP, urging BAAQMD to include more ambitious pollution reduction goals and stronger measures to protect health in overburdened communities.  In April 2010, BAEHC submitted public comments on the draft CAP. 

BAEHC sent this letter to groups, inviting them to support our work by becoming an ally. If your organization is interested in becoming our ally, please visit our Allies page to sign a statement of support. Your organization will be listed as a BAEHC supporter, with a link to your website.

Later this year, BAAQMD will ask its Board of Directors to adopt the 2010 Clean Air Plan, which will set regulatory priorities for 2010-2012.  BAEHC and its allies submitted strong public comments on the draft plan in April 2010, urging the Air District to prioritize pollution reductions in overburdened communities and expand opportunities for public participation.   Read the public comment letter here.