Clean air requires everyone : a community guidebook to achieve healthier air in the San Joaquin Valley

Community guidebook is in Appendix B.Thesis (M.A.)--Humboldt State University, Social Sciences: Environment & Community, 2008In recent years, the San Joaquin Valley of central California has been considered\ud the most unhealthy air basin in the United States of America. Extraordinary levels of ambient ozone and particulate matter are responsible for the diagnosis of asthma in one in six residents as well as many other well-documented health, social, and economic burdens. The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District is the regional regulatory agency that is responsible for achieving clean, healthy air as mandated by the Clean Air Act. Despite the increasing cases of hospital admissions, employment and school absences, and premature deaths related to air pollution, the agency continually requests additional time extensions from the United States Environmental Protection Agency for accomplishing National Ambient Air Quality Standards. San Joaquin Valley residents suffering the effects of air pollution have organized to press for more protective regulation. However, such advocates are at times frustrated by the complexities of the regulatory framework governing air quality.\ud This community-based project is a cooperative effort with Fresno Metro Ministry and the Central Valley Air Quality Coalition. Its purpose is to provide San Joaquin Valley residents with a concrete and accessible tool for clean air advocacy. It is difficult to effectively participate in the current regulatory system without a comprehensive understanding of the extensive and often technical agency processes.\ud This community air activist guidebook speaks to these challenges and provides the knowledge required for communicating the air quality needs of the San Joaquin Valley to the Air Pollution Control District