CARB Environmental Justice Blog

Luis Olmedo In October, Comité Civico del Valle (CCV) hosted its 9 th Annual Environmental Health and Leadership Summit in Heber, California. CCV is a community-based organization serving Imperial County with the endeavor of improving the lives of disadvantaged communities through a broad range of approaches such as civic education, outreach, research, citizen science and crowd sourcing. Under the leadership of CCV Executive Director Luis Olmedo, the event drew nearly 300 attendees from across the state to discuss environmental health, air quality, AB 617 and other environmental justice (EJ) issues. Participants included representatives of community-based organizations; officials and residents from the Mexicali-Calexico metropolitan region; Imperial Valley youth environmental leaders; and staff from CARB, local air districts and related government agencies. In addition to Mr. Olmedo, other California EJ leaders presented their work such as Nayamin Martinez, Rey León, Ms...

CARB adopts blueprint for statewide community air protection in areas most impacted by pollution Board also selects first 10 communities for additional focused actions under AB 617 SACRAMENTO – Opening a new chapter in California’s fight against air pollution, the California Air Resources Board took key steps toward implementing the Community Air Protection Program , a first-of-its-kind effort to improve air quality in local communities that face the worst impacts of air pollution.   “This program represents a completely new approach to improving air quality in California’s most impacted communities. The State, working together with local pollution control agencies and community-based organizations, will focus monitoring, enforcement and regulatory activities on the sources of greatest concern to residents.” said Chair Mary D. Nichols. At its September monthly meeting, the Board adopted a blueprint for the program describing how CARB will work with local residen...

On September 27, 2018, the California Air Resources Board (CARB)  collaborated with over a dozen state  agencies to host an environmental justice resource fair.  The fair ran during  the CARB Board meeting, which considered the AB 617 community selection recommendations.  As such, CARB expected a large number of community advocates and residents from across the state to attend.   Throughout our community outreach, CARB heard from community residents and organizers about the challenges of attending the many workshops targeted at disadvantaged communities. This includes workshops on the various CARB programs, in addition to those conducted by other state agencies.  Fourteen state agencies participated in the resource fair and provided information about their programs and projects. ·         California Air Resources Board – shared information on regulatory efforts by the Transportation and Toxics Di...