CENTRAL VALLEY SMOG — FORCING AGENCY ACTION

California’s San Joaquin Valley, running down the center of the state, is widely known as the nation’s food basket. By the late 1990s, however, it was also becoming one of the nation’s smoggiest places.

Atmospheric levels of particulate matter and ground-level ozone, commonly known as smog, had been increasing steadily as a result of rapid growth and unchecked industrial emissions, particularly from sprawling, factory-farming operations. The detrimental health effects of smog include exacerbation of asthma and emphysema, coughing, throat irritation, shortness of breath, chest pain, and lung inflammation and damage, which when caused by ozone exposure can be permanent. Children, the elderly, and people with respiratory illnesses are particularly vulnerable to the negative health effects of ozone exposure. By 1998, the air in the Valley during the summer was too polluted for children to play safely outdoors. The toxic air had impacts on flora as well, reducing crop yields and damaging trees and plants. Finally, the majestic pine forests of the Sierra Nevada Mountains bordering the Valley were suffering damage from the polluted air.

A primary reason for the worsening pollution was that the Valley’s largest farms—a major source of air pollution—had convinced the EPA and state regulators to exempt them from compliance with the Clean Air Act. The pollution on the farms came from a variety of sources including the concentrated animal-feeding operations, unregulated, stationary, diesel-powered irrigation pumps, and other diesel-fueled farm vehicles. This “agricultural exemption” from Clean Air operating-permit requirements was even more shocking because of the impact on the many families that lived around and worked on these corporate farms. Despite the fact that the California law exempting the farms contradicted the requirements of the Clean Air Act, the EPA approved the regional air board’s permit programs year after year.

A coalition of citizen and environmental groups sued the EPA for violating the Clean Air Act by continuing to approve the flawed permit programs. The Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment (CRPE), the Golden Gate University Environmental Law and Justice Clinic, and Earthjustice came together to represent the Valley groups, AIR and CLAW, and the public. The environmental justice coalition won, forcing the EPA to promulgate a rule establishing direct federal regulation of the region until California amended its law allowing agricultural exemptions. The federal government agreed to withhold highway funds if the exemption was not removed by May 2004. Under this pressure the state legislature finally acted, ending the exemption and creating a state permit program for animal-factory, air pollution independent of the federal Clean Air Act, and imposing specific limitations on agricultural emissions.