Valley is a smoggy second
For the second consecutive year, the San Joaquin Valley is the second-worst smog offender in the country, and that's actually looking like two years of improvement.
But air officials agree it's a far cry from healthy air.
The Valley had been the worst from 1999 to 2004, replacing the South Coast Air Basin as the nation's perennial smog kingpin. But South Coast took back the distinction in 2005 and kept it this year, recording more violations than the Valley.
The Valley's two-year progress means pollution control plans are showing results, says the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District.
"Our atmospheric scientists are telling us that our [smog] peaks are lower now," district planning director Scott Nester said.
As the smog season fades into autumn, the violation tally this year is 83, which is considered a notable reduction from the 100-plus annual average before 2005. But to have healthy air, the Valley must drop dramatically to one violation per year.
Sierra Club member Kevin Hall of Fresno said this is no time to celebrate.
"We're having 80 times more violations than they allow," he said. "This is like saying we're drowning in 8 feet of water instead of 10. You're still drowning."
A massive campaign will be needed to clean the air by the 2013 federal deadline, Nester said. Officials already have warned that the Valley will not make the deadline unless more than 50% of smog-making pollution is eliminated.
Said Nester, "It will take a lot of work and a lot of money to make that deadline. We're working on a new plan right now."
Smog has been a problem for decades in the 25,000-square-mile Valley, which stretches from Stockton to Bakersfield. The area's bowl shape holds vehicle exhaust, chemical fumes and other pollutants for days.
The Valley's long warm season and lack of strong wind make ideal conditions for ozone, the main ingredient of smog. Ozone corrodes lungs and triggers many kinds of breathing problems, such as asthma.
There are two key ingredients in ozone: nitrogen oxide from vehicles and other combustion sources and reactive organic gases from such sources as paint fumes and dairy waste. The ingredients bake together in the sun to become ozone.
Before 2005, the Valley's smog violated the federal standard almost daily from June to late September.
Windy, cool weather makes it difficult for ozone to form. In 2005, cool, breezy conditions continued through May and early June. That year, the area had an all-time record low number of violations — 72.
The district's rules for local businesses have made a difference, too, Nester said. The district recently has required better pollution control on such sources as large dairies, glass melting furnaces and gas turbines.
"We're seeing evidence of progress," Nester said.
Sierra Club member Hall said state and federal regulations on fuels and engine manufacturing have had a bigger effect. As people buy new cars and trucks, the cleaner-burning engines are replacing older polluting engines, he said.
Said Hall: "It's the state and federal rules, not the local ones, that are making the important reductions."
The reporter can be reached at mgrossi@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6316.
