CARB Board Approves the Arvin/Lamont Community Emissions Reduction Program

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Haga clic aquí para ver la versión en español


On October 13, CARB’s Board unanimously approved the Arvin/Lamont community emissions reduction program (CERP), completing a community-driven process that started over a year and a half ago, when Arvin/Lamont was selected by the CARB Board on February 25, 2021, as a prioritized community under the Community Air Protection Program.


Leading up to the October CARB Board Meeting, on August 25, CARB staff hosted a discussion during the Arvin/Lamont Community Steering Committee Meeting (CSC) to hear from CSC members about their CERP development process (Spanish version: https://community.valleyair.org/arvin-lamont-cerp-sp/). Throughout 2021 and into 2022, the CSC worked together with community and agency partners to develop clean air strategies focused on directly reducing air pollution emissions and exposure for the betterment of all community members. The innovative strategies discussed and recommended by the CSC included enhanced clean air regulations and enforcement, community outreach and education efforts, and significant clean air incentives. In all, the CSC helped prioritize 31 measures, with a monetary investment of over $30 million in incentives to bring cleaner air to the community through projects to reduce harmful emissions from diesel-powered heavy-duty trucks, older agricultural equipment, and dirty school buses. The CERP also contains community service strategies including urban greening and vegetative barrier projects to reduce exposure to pollution and funding for road improvements, sidewalk installations, and bike paths to improve walkability and reduction of motor vehicle emissions in the community.

FIGURE: In April 2022, the Arvin/Lamont Community Steering Committee met in-person for the first time.


Community Air Protection is a Family Affair in Arvin/Lamont

In the first few kick-off meetings for the Arvin/Lamont community, each with over 100 community stakeholders in attendance, the San Joaquin Valley Air District (Air District) and community partners worked together to finalize the project boundary and establish an official Community Steering Committee. Committed to inclusivity from the start, several community members who participated in these first meetings were quick to voice support for adjusting the project boundary to include the nearby unincorporated communities of Weed Patch, Hilltop, and Fuller Acres, which would allow more residents to participate in the public process. With that boundary adjustment, the final established Arvin/Lamont CSC membership became the largest steering committee in the State, with over 70 members. The CSC is comprised primarily of community residents, many from the same household, and includes local community-based organizations, local businesses, and local and statewide agencies.


After finalizing the community boundaries, CSC members quickly got to work by selecting co-leads and adopting a charter to decide how the CSC would function. Co-leads Gus Aguirre Jr. of the Central California Environmental Justice Network and Arvin resident Byanka Santoyo bring over a decade of experience in community organizing and advocating for clean air and health, emphasizing the critical role community-based organizations and residents should play in the CERP development.


Unanimous Support for the CERP

Developing the CERP was a 16-plus month-long process that included providing education regarding local air quality and sources of pollution, background on current air pollution control efforts, and exercises soliciting community-identified project ideas to reduce air pollution exposure in Arvin/Lamont. Working with the co-leads, the Air District developed a budgeting tool that helped each member choose projects and decide how much money to allocate, while simultaneously calculating and demonstrating the estimated emission reductions so that CSC members were able to track and understand the air quality impacts of their recommendations. Although meetings have been held virtually since March 2021, the Committee became the first in the State to reestablish in-person meetings in April 2022 to discuss all CSC-submitted strategy ideas in smaller groups. After extensive reflection and discussion, the CSC prioritized the measures to include in the CERP, (Spanish version: https://community.valleyair.org/arvin-lamont-cerp-sp/) and the CSC unanimously voted to move it forward to the Air District Board, which then unanimously adopted it on June 16, 2022.


While working together on the Arvin/Lamont AB 617 CERP, the CSC has celebrated joyous occasions such as birthdays, the birth of a healthy baby, and has mourned lives lost to racial hostilities, and the loss of Jose Mireles, dedicated CSC member and beloved husband, father, and grandfather. The determination of the CSC to continue to engage in the process to deliver improvements to air quality at the local scale is commendable.


CARB congratulates the San Joaquin Valley Air District and the CSC for their continued commitment to work together for the health of Arvin/Lamont community members and for environmental justice. CARB staff fully support the implementation of the CERP in partnership with the Air District and the CSC to help realize the benefits for residents in Arvin/Lamont.


To learn more or follow the AB 617 implementation effort in Arvin/Lamont, please visit http://community.valleyair.org/selected-communities/arvin-lamont/


To register to receive email updates on the Community Air Protection Program, sign up here: https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/CARB/subscriber/new?topic_id=CAPP