The federal standard will throw more counties out of compliance and put more pressure on the LA basin and San Joaquin Valley to clean the air.
We’re a big state with big challenges. Each morning we explain the top issues and how Californians are trying to solve them.One weekly email, all the Golden State newsGet the news that matters to all Californians. Start every week informed.The federal standard will likely throw new California counties out of compliance — and put even more pressure on the LA basin and San Joaquin Valley to clean the air.
And the Los Angeles basin and the San Joaquin Valley, which are blanketed with the nation’s worst smog and soot, now face an even tougher challenge after spending decades trying to clean the air.last year to warn: “There is no clear path forward on how the Valley or other regions of California can attain the proposed standard.”
Under the new standard, annual average concentrations of fine particles cannot exceed 9 micrograms per cubic meter of air, down 25% from the current 12. Nationwide soot in 119 counties exceeds the new standard, based on the 2020-22 data. Of those, 59 already violated the old standard. By 2032, the EPA says it could drop to 52 counties in 16 states that violate the new limit.
Achieving the new target will take wide-ranging new state and local regulations aimed at cutting emissions. Fine particles are spewed into the air from the burning of diesel fuel, gasoline and wood, including trucks, farm vehicles, fireplaces and restaurant charbroilers, but also from manufacturing plants and dust stirred up by farming, construction and roads.
Dr. Doris Browne, a former president of the National Medical Association, which represents Black physicians, said the new standards are critical for addressing health disparities. Communities of color, along with older people and those with heart and lung conditions, are most in danger from “their close proximity to sources of this dangerous and deadly pollutant,” she said.
Increased asthma attacks are another well-documented health impact. And in recent years, a growing body of research has shown it can harm the brain. A study by University of Southern California researchers published this year reported that exposure can Sulfur dioxide is one compound that can mix with others to create particles. It’s emitted when coal, petroleum oil or diesel is burned. Nitrogen oxides are other common urban precursors that come largely from traffic or industrial plants. Ammonia, which can come from large-scale agricultural operations, among other sources, is another important precursor.
Reductions will need to come from cars, trucks, heavy equipment and other so-called “mobile” sources that the local air district doesn’t regulate — they are under the control of the state Air Resources Board.Clean air advocates in the Central Valley deploy the morbid emergency room acronym D.O.A., dead on arrival, as shorthand for what they see as the main causes of pollution in the valley: development, oil and agriculture.
The Los Angeles region also faces severe challenges meeting the current standard. The South Coast Air Quality Management District is responsible for regulating air pollution in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, which has 17 million residents.
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