By Tom Frantz The San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District is a public health agency run by a Governing Board of local politicians including names such as Judy Case of Fresno County, [...] Continue Reading
Clearing the Air
Clearing the Air – March 2013: Scapegoating Our Air Quality Problem
By Tom Frantz More than obesity and poverty, polluted air is shortening the lives of Central Valley residents. The marginal cost of our early deaths and degraded quality of life is around $6 billion [...] Continue Reading
Clearing the Air: The Valley Mind-set / Air, Water and Land
By Kevin Hall The Valley Mind-set “Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.”—Albert Einstein Each January, the Valley Air Board—that tea-guzzling bunch of local [...] Continue Reading
Clearing the Air – January 2013
By Kevin Hall Clean Air Acting How many Valley Air Board members does it take to violate the Brown Act, California’s open meeting law for government agencies? Eight, if the full 15-member board is [...] Continue Reading
Clearing the Air – Dec. 2012: Off the Grid / Discount Shopping
By Kevin Hall Off the Grid If you live in Fresno’s Tower District, Southeast Fresno, West Fresno or downtown, the pollution monitor that measures wintertime particulate levels for your neighborhood is [...] Continue Reading
Clearing the Air – November 2012
By Tom Frantz Fact checking of candidate statements is a useful exercise during an election season. It is a rational response to politicians striving for public approval. Our air board is made up of [...] Continue Reading
Clearing the Air – Oct. 2012: Particulate Matters a Lot
By Kevin Hall In a presentation before a class of 15 Fresno State seniors last month, I conducted a poll of these intelligent, highly educated, computer-literate, smartphone-owning future entrants [...] Continue Reading
Clearing the Air
By Kevin Hall The Pivotal Year AheadThe coming year will prove to be pivotal in the effort to reduce Central Valley air pollution to “safe” levels any time soon. The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution [...] Continue Reading
Clearing the Air
Valley Air Board’s InsensitivityBy Kevin Hall According to the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, it was an orange flag day on a Thursday afternoon in late September, “unhealthy for [...] Continue Reading
Clearing the Air
By Kevin Hall Editor’s note: Long-time readers will remember Kevin Hall’s column that ran regularly in the Community Alliance for several years as he fought pollution in the San Joaquin Valley as a [...] Continue Reading