Many of those who live in California’s San Joaquin Valley moved there to experience bucolic farm life and raise their families away from the city. But what’s considered a big-city issue has been steadily increasing in this idyllic valley over the years, and it’s threatening the health of adults and children alike. The problem? Smog. And cited as the major source of San Joaquin Valley’s smog are the very farms meant to sustain its population.
In 1976, agriculture was granted an exemption from the Federal Clean Air Act. Emissions from farm equipment, diesel irrigation pumps, livestock waste and agricultural burning — all causes of smog — were unregulated by the Environmental Protection Agency. But the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, along with several other groups, sued the federal EPA to stop turning a blind eye to California’s agricultural exemption. In the future, farmers will have to comply with clean air standards like the rest of the state or apply for a permit for emissions that exceed the standards.
The farmers of the San Joaquin Valley complain that they feel singled out. They agree that smog is a huge problem in the Valley, but argue that gusty winds blowing smog into the Valley from the San Francisco Bay Area is part of the problem. While cars in Sacramento and the San Joaquin Valley have to pass the tougher emissions standards of Smog Check II due to their high smog problem, motorists in the Bay Area do not. In fact, the Bay Area is the only major metropolitan area in the state that hasn’t been required to participate in the program.
The result, according to Central Valley air regulators, is a huge amount of bad air blown in on winds during the summer months, adding to the pollution problems of a region facing harsh consequences from federal regulators if it doesn’t start cleaning up its air by 2003. In response, Assemblyman Dennis Cardoza (D) introduced AB 2637, which will impose Smog Check II regulations on the Bay Area. The bill passed the assembly and currently faces review by the California senate, where it may face a tough fight by Bay Area senators who feel that Smog Check II emissions standards are too expensive and unnecessary for their districts.
Meanwhile, if farmers don’t comply with the EPA by May of 2004, California would lose its federal highway funding. The legislature now has 17 months to enact legislation to remove the agricultural exemption. This week, “California Connected” examines both sides of the smog wars as the San Joaquin Valley struggles to breathe.