Ca: EPA sued for San Joaquin Valley air ruling

[Guest guest]

" the lungs of the people living in the Valley are at stake "

- - - -

Comment: When a pregnant women, infant, or toddler has lungs burdened with

the task of negating toxins, then the individual's detox processes are

utilizing detox nutrients. The more such toxins within the body, the more

that adverse sequelae are likely.

Once upon a time (late 2005), a parent living on the edge of the Valley

mentioned that the Valley has - what was it she said? - the highest rate

of autism in California.

Currently, the EPA seldom acts on behalf of citizens' health.

- - - -

*EPA sued for Valley air ruling*

Earthjustice files motion, saying the region doesn't deserve clean status.

Bee staff and wire services

12/29/06 04:48:19

http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/21345.html

Environmental and community groups are suing the federal government,

claiming it ignored data showing high levels of airborne dust, smoke and

soot in the San Joaquin Valley when it ruled in October that the region

met clean air standards.

The environmental law group Earthjustice filed the lawsuit on Wednesday in

the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of the

Latino Issues Forum, Medical Advocates for Healthy Air and three chapters

of the Sierra Club.

Plaintiffs are asking the court to review the Environmental Protection

Agency's finding that the Valley's air was no longer polluted by PM-10 —

tiny pollution particles just 10 microns wide — because it hadn't violated

the PM-10 standard in three years.

The plaintiffs said they also planned to file a separate petition today

with the EPA asking the federal agency to reconsider its own finding.

" It's very important that the EPA withdraw this finding because the lungs

of the people living in the Valley are at stake, " said Cort, an

Earthjustice attorney. " As long as that finding is out there, the EPA and

the air district get to wash their hands and say the work is done. "

EPA spokesman Mark Merchant said Thursday that the agency could not

comment on pending litigation.

In October, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District cited

the EPA finding as a major cleanup milestone for its eight-county

territory, which is considered one of the country's most polluted air

basins. Local cleanup efforts for PM-10, which is linked to asthma and

heart problems, have included spraying water and slowing traffic on

unpaved country roads, as well as implementing fireplace restrictions.

Environmentalists said those efforts weren't sufficient.

Environmental groups previously had accused the EPA of ignoring data from

certain air pollution monitors in making its decision because the monitors

were not officially part of the federally sanctioned network.

The new accusation involves three other monitors, which the EPA does

recognize.

The three monitors are in Corcoran, Oildale and Bakersfield.

The Earthjustice petition to the EPA said high levels of small particles

were detected at the three monitors on Sept.22, about a month before the

agency ruled that the Valley had met the standard for the prior three

years.

But the agency and local regulators dismiss the Sept. 22 readings as

resulting from high winds and nearby wildfires.

" They're ignoring at least one monitoring station that they should be

utilizing, and now even the ones that they insist on limiting their

observations to are showing violations, " said Hall, air quality

chairman for the Sierra Club Tehipite chapter, one of the groups

represented in the Earthjustice action.

San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District Planning Director

Nester defended the EPA's action and said that the district is providing

documentation to justify it.

" We believe that the Sept. 22 numbers are solely due to some natural

events, " Nester said. " Weather sometimes just completely overwhelms the

[air pollution] controls that we put in place. "

Hall complained that even if the environmental groups prevail in court,

the EPA's October finding will put an indefinite hold on further controls.

" Our fate is in the hands of the Bush EPA, " he said. " Their strategy is to

create delay through tactics such as false findings of attainment " of the

standard.

The agency's action, he said, " stops the rulemaking and pushes us into the

courts for one, two or three years to hash this thing out. "

But Nester said the groups should have waited to file their newest

objection until the district submits its documentation on whether nature

caused the high September readings. That submittal, due by March, will be

subject to public review and comment, he said.

*

The material in this post is distributed without

profit to those who have expressed a prior interest

in receiving the included information for research

and educational purposes.For more information go to:

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html

http://oregon.uoregon.edu/~csundt/documents.htm

If you wish to use copyrighted material from this

email for purposes that go beyond 'fair use', you

must obtain permission from the copyright owner.