A few years ago, soon after my wife and I moved to Auburn, I remember reading a shocking article entitled “Valley’s Ozone Stinging the Foothills” in the Sacramento Bee. I almost fell out of my favorite chair when I read that for the first time in twenty years of air-quality monitoring, the Sierra foothills had more smoggy days than hazy and congested Sacramento and other Central Valley cities. The problem is that Delta winds on a hot summer day blow an invisible cloud of ozone from the Central Valley into our foothill and mountain communities where it often sits into the night. We can’t see the ozone but it reduces resistance to infection and aggravates respiratory diseases, including emphysema, bronchitis, and asthma. “It’s worse in the foothills by far…all the way up to 7,000 feet,” says Thomas Cahill, a UC Davis professor who specializes in atmospheric science.
After reading this article, I once again safely repositioned myself in my favorite chair and thought awhile. What could be done about this invisible menace with near and far away origins? Air pollution, while not solely a local problem, is quietly damaging the health of our neighbors and families. We must do our fair share to help solve this problem, but if the people of Sacramento and other Central Valley cities do not take sufficient action to reduce their locally generated air pollution, it becomes our problem too. We are all in this together.
But the point of view that all residents have to be a part of the solution is apparently not shared by all in the State Capitol. A Smog War that pits Central Valley legislators against San Francisco Bay Area legislators has already broken out. Central Valley representatives argue that ocean winds from the Bay Area blow air pollution into the Sacramento-San Joaquin region. One study says that the Bay Area accounts for 27% of the ozone in the northern San Joaquin Valley. The Sacramento region receives an unhealthy export of about 14 tons of smog-contributing substances every day courtesy of the Bay Area. And when these Central Valley communities cannot meet federal air pollution standards, the federal Environmental Protection Agency and Transportation Department hangs on to hundreds of millions of dollars for transportation projects, including – ironically – money for mass transit for the region. So bad begets worse.
You might then ask, ‘But isn’t the Bay Area doing it’s best to reduce locally generated pollution?’ Central Valley legislators say “no.” They point out that the Bay Area is the only urban area in California that is not subject to enhanced vehicle inspection requirements, known as Smog Check II, California’s air pollution reduction program. Even though Bay Area legislators voted to establish Smog Check II in 1990, their constituents don’t have to live under the more stringent environmental requirements.
The residents of the Bay Area are currently exempt from the Smog Check II requirements because enough air pollution is blown everyday from this “upwind” air basin to the unlucky “downwind” air basins in the Central Valley. Under the provisions of Smog Check II, drivers who live in air basins that do not meet air pollution standards must have their vehicles placed on a treadmill, called a dynamometer, which measures pollution that is emitted at various speeds. Right now, vehicles in the Bay Area must only be tested while idling.
It costs an extra $10 per automobile to complete the Smog Check II inspection. But that doesn’t account for the costs to foothill families when Aunt Betty gets emphysema or young Katie gets asthma. The long term health effects will cost them not only a reduced enjoyment of life, but real money in lost wages and higher health bills. And the overall health system will be used more than if these illnesses were prevented, causing insurance and taxes to increase to pay for the higher health bills.
The Smog War in the State Capitol officially began on February 22nd, when AB 2637 (Cardoza) was introduced. This three-line bill would require that vehicles in nine Bay Area counties pass the tougher Smog Check II inspections. AB 2637 is supported by many of the legislators who represent Sacramento and the Sierra Foothills.
Who will win the Smog War? What will be the fate of AB 2637? The past gives us a few clues and it’s all about whether Bay Area legislators are in key positions of power. In 1999, Assemblywoman Carole Migden (D-San Francisco), the powerful Chair of the Appropriations Committee, placed an identical bill, AB 57(Cardoza), on the Suspense File and killed it without a vote. She took this action despite the fact that the bill had overwhelmingly passed the Assembly Transportation Committee by a vote of 13 to 1. But there is a new twist this year. Assemblyman Steinberg (D-Sacramento), a supporter of AB 2637, is the new Chair of the Appropriations Committee. So, it looks like the bill has at least an even-money chance to be thoroughly debated on the Assembly floor. That’s a healthy debate that needs to take place.
But, on the bad news front, the bill could run into a MACK truck in the State Senate. The most powerful legislator in the State Capitol, President Pro Tempore of the Senate, John Burton (D-San Francisco) stands between AB 2637 and the Governor’s desk. If the bill makes it to the State Senate, Senator Burton has a variety of methods – stacking committees with opponents of the bill, placing it on the Suspense File in Senate Appropriations Committee, etc… - to kill the bill. My prediction is that without a massive grassroots campaign, this year’s legislative effort to fully include the Bay Area in the air pollution fight will advance further than previous efforts but won’t quite make it due to the disproportional influence of Bay Area legislators in key positions of power.
But even if AB 2637 is defeated this year, the Smog Wars will continue into the future. In March, the voters defeated Proposition 45, which would have extended legislative terms limits for another four years. Senator Burton will be out of office in 2004. Legislators representing areas other than the Bay Area will gain influence. Maybe this wind of change, this breath of fresh air, will ultimately bring less unhealthy pollutants into the Central Valley, Sierra foothill and mountain communities.
Copyright 2002 The Auburn Sentinel