The California State Senate voted this morning to reject the confirmation of Fresno County Supervisor Judy Case to the California Air Resources Board, based on her repeated votes to extend Valley air clean-up deadlines and resistance to reforms of the board itself.
Case, who was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to a four-year term on CARB in May of 2007, could have served until May of this year without confirmation. With today’s vote to reject her appointment, she will have 60 days to leave the post.
Central Valley clean air advocates, including respiratory therapists, asthma sufferers and representatives of the American Lung Association, Sierra Club, and others, trekked to Sacramento to me in voicing their opposition to Case’s nomination. A common theme in their testimony was concern that someone who has voted twice to extend Valley air clean-up deadlines does not possess the type of leadership needed to move the nation’s dirtiest basin forward with progressive pollution policies.
When we needed leadership, we got opposition. When we needed decisive action, we got equivocation. When deadlines were missed, we got excuses.
Case was appointed by the Governor prior to her vote last year to extend the Valley air deadline. That vote was reason enough for the Governor to fire CARB chairman Robert Sawyer, but inexplicably did not affect his opinion of Case. In addition to her foot-dragging on Valley air clean-up, Case opposed efforts by legislators to reform the air board to include members with expertise in public health
This is a very important position that inordinately affects the residents of the Central Valley who breathe the dirtiest air in the nation.
What is at Stake Here
Valley cities have been ranked as having the worst air quality in the nation. Three of the four dirtiest cities in the entire country in terms of air pollution — Fresno (#2), Bakersfield (#3), and Visalia (#4) — are right here in our Valley.
Asthma rates in the San Joaquin Valley are three times the national average. Today, 1 in 6 children going to school today in Fresno carry books, pencils, paper and a RESPIRATORY INHALER.
Why I Opposed the Case Appointment
My opposition centered on her record and work on the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control Board, specifically:
–She voted to delay clean air for 10 more years in the valley. The Governor disagreed and took the highly unusual step of publicly chastising the board for doing so.
–She voted to oppose putting more diversity and public health expertise on the San Joaquin valley air board, the most polluted region in the state. The Governor disagreed and signed SB 719 (Machado) into law.
–She voted to oppose closing the loophole in state law that exempted agribusiness from clean air rules every other business must meet. The Governor disagreed and signed SB 719 into law.
The agricultural industry HAD been 100% EXEMPT from federal, state and local air quality laws. For over FIFTY YEARS, literally two lines in our health and safety code HAD protected agriculture from the same air pollution controls that EVERY OTHER industry in the state has followed.
On this point, Ms. Case and her Air Board could have closed the agricultural loophole on its own – but they didn’t.
In fact, from my experience during this historic clean air fight, at every step Ms. Case stood in the way of these important changes. Changes that today even the Air Board itself says take nearly 87 tons a day of bad air out of the Valley due to their implementation.
The business interests, ag interests, oil companies, and other groups all have their champions in the Administration. But the breathing public in the valley does not have a champion in their corner when it comes to clean air.
They need someone to champion their efforts, not be a balancer of choices between industry economic concerns and kids lungs.
Her list of accomplishments is only the result of being prodded, or being forced to do the right thing.
Why should the legislature have to constantly prod, push, urge and sadly beg the board that Ms. Case is a leader on to act in the public’s interest?
Consider the power and decisions the ARB will have to make in the next few months. Decision on the AB 32 Scoping Plan which includes controls on agriculture. Workplans for 2008 that will set the agenda for massive actions to come on Greenhouse Gas.
As a scientific matter, clean air and greenhouse gas pollution go hand in hand. And even on the greenhouse gas front Ms. Case opted for a limited set of “early action measures” rather than a more robust effort.
Senator Dean Florez was born and raised in the Central Valley and has represented the lower half of the Valley for eight years. He was first elected to the State Assembly in 1998 and served two terms. He was subsequently elected to the Senate in 2002. Florez has been a leading figure in finding workable solutions to the Valley’s air pollution crisis, taking on powerful interests along the way. He authored five historic clean air laws which took dramatic steps to cleaning the second dirtiest air in the nation.
