Clean Air

By Ann Notthoff

What California does makes a difference. When President Obama increased national mileage standards last year, he built on the pioneering work that Senator Fran Pavley started here in 2002. We dream big, we take big steps and when it comes to environmental and public health protection, nobody does it better. With his new budget proposal today, Governor Brown has a chance to build on our state's strong record of environmental and public health protection.

By Alan Kandel

Houston: We (California) have a problem, a Texas-sized problem.

With the climate change debate front-page news, the fight to combat air pollution is every bit as important in my book; perhaps even more so. If not, what is this saying?

California's San Joaquin Valley is the place I call home. The Valley is among the nation's worst offenders.

So that which is being spewed into the air in California's central interior, where is it coming from? The following is from the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District.

By Alan Kandel

Houston: We (California) have a problem, a Texas-sized problem.

California used to be the envy of the country - at one time, maybe of the world even. Ours was the land of plenty; it still is. The Golden State's number one industry - agriculture - is a cornucopia, a veritable cash crop to the tune of $32 billion per year - handily. The central San Joaquin Valley's contribution, incidentally, is about half.

But where acre after productive acre of the highest quality farmland once existed, much has been paved over. And left in its wake: sprawl, traffic congestion and deleterious air pollution. And the dirty air is pervasive. How problematic is it?

By Matthew Fleischer

How different would California look with Proposition 32's passage? To imagine, it's not necessary to focus on a Golden State without the legacy of its unions, but rather to think of a California in which only the rich and powerful have a say in Sacramento and in the polling booth.

"It will have a devastating effect," says John Logan, director of Labor Studies at San Francisco State University, of Prop. 32's impact. "California would be transformed as a state."

On environmental issues alone, Prop. 32 stands to roll back decades of progress in making California a global leader in green policy-making.

By Bruce Reznik

Planning & Conservation League

Conservation groups are hailing Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg for preventing a last-minute attempt to gut the California Environmental Quality Act from moving forward. State Senator Michael Rubio tried to sneak drastic changes to CEQA through the legislature using the infamous “gut-and-amend” procedure.

Senator Rubio’s legislation, known as SB 317, would have made comprehensive changes to CEQA without giving the legislature – and the public – an opportunity to explore what these changes would mean to environmental quality in the state.

By Jenesse Miller

One of my favorite movies is Groundhog Day, where Bill Murray's weatherman character is trapped living the same day over and over again. But one of my least-favorite real-life versions of Groundhog Day--where several interest groups try to push through major changes to California's most important environmental law at the last minute--is playing out yet again in the state Capitol in the waning days of the legislative session.

The Los Angeles Times warns: “Major change to one of California’s most important laws could happen literally in the dark of night."

By Kim Glazzard, Organic Sacramento; Samantha McCarthy, Better Urban Green Strategies; Jack Milton, Stop West Nile Spraying Now; Asael Sala, Pesticide Watch

Aerial mosquito spraying over populated areas this year by the local mosquito control district used a more hazardous pesticide than in previous years. While there is no scientific evidence that the spray is effective in stopping the spread of West Nile virus (WNv), there is evidence that the spraying endangers health.
 
The more dangerous pesticide used this year is an organophosphate. Similar to chemical warfare agents produced during World War II, this chemical adversely affects the human nervous system even at low exposure levels, and ingredients are on California’s Proposition 65 list of chemicals known to cause cancer.

By the Public Policy Institute of California

Most California likely voters say that the presidential candidates’ positions on global warming and energy policy are important in determining their vote, and a majority trust President Obama over Mitt Romney on these issues. These are among the key findings of a statewide survey released today by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), conducted with funding from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

While global warming and energy policy have not been the focus of debate in the campaigns so far, 30 percent of California likely voters say these issues are very important in determining their choice for president and 42 percent say they are somewhat important. A majority—54 percent—say they trust Obama to handle these issues, while 33 percent trust Romney.

By Rachele Huennekens
Sierra Club

"I just want Max to be able to play sports without having to worry that he can't breathe." These were the plainspoken words of Stephanie Christensen, a woman who marched into the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) public hearing in Sacramento, CA, last Thursday with her adorable 5-year-old grandson outfitted in his Little League uniform, a light blue breathing mask, and a hefty bag of their asthma medications in tow. "If you can see the air,” Christensen said, “then it's definitely not healthy to breathe."

By David Dayen

High speed rail survived by the skin of its teeth Friday.

In a closely watched vote of the California state Senate, a bill to issue the first $5.8 billion in bonds for the construction of high speed rail lines passed 21-16. It needed all 21 votes to pass. Four Democrats voted no – including Allen Lowenthal, the Democratic candidate for Congress in CA-47, and Fran Pavley, the author of the state’s historic global warming law – but ultimately, just enough Democrats voted in favor of the bonds for them to pass. Joe Simitian and Mark DeSaulnier were the other Democrats who opposed the bill.