![]() ![]() ![]() A 2011 study funded by the district found ER admissions in the San Joaquin Valley are “strongly linked to increasing PM 2.5 across the region, with a higher risk in children.” Multiple studies link exposure to short-term particulate matter pollution to increased respiratory and cardiovascular events and premature mortality. Data shows it caused over 13% of PM 2.5 emissions valleywide in 2017. It is generally responsible for 4% of annual PM 2.5 emissions in the Valley, according to Benjamin. And, it’s a source regulators can control. Still, smoke from ag burning contributes significantly to the Valley’s PM 2.5 pollution problem. Smoke from wildfires has dwarfed many other sources of pollution in the Valley in recent years. “All of those benefits to reduce PM 2.5 over time, especially those chronic, respiratory diseases a lot of us suffer from, I think we’re really going to see a change over the generations to come. Particles of PM 2.5 are small enough to travel deep into the lungs and even the bloodstream, where they can cause permanent damage. Tania Pacheco-Werner, co-director of the Central Valley Health Policy Institute at Fresno State and a member of both the local and state air boards, said the clear goals in the new strategy to phase out ag burning are part of a larger plan to reduce emissions of harmful particulate matter known as PM 2.5. Residents across the Valley will benefit, especially those in farm towns who he said currently see “plumes of smoke coming up from fields.” The new plan clears a pathway for “an 80% to 90% reduction in the Valley in the next three years,” according to Michael Benjamin, chief of the Air Quality Planning and Science Division for the California Air Resources Board. Bolstering the commitment is $180 million in state funding to help farmers transition to alternatives. This would help bring the region into compliance with federal air quality standards. Now, state regulators with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) have set a deadline for the local San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District to phase out open agricultural burning in the Valley by 2025, except in the cases of disease and pest concerns. Instead they chose to allow the agricultural industry to openly burn waste in a region with some of the worst air quality in the country. This is part of the series When the Smoke Clears, produced with the support of the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism Impact Fund.Īir quality regulators in the San Joaquin Valley for years delayed pollution cuts that would have improved public health.
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