Stockton Event

EPA Regional Administrator Jared Blumenfeld, along with the California Air Resources Board and San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District and other local partners announced more than $21 million in Diesel Emissions Reduction Act funding to California that will stand to improve air quality and generate significant public health benefits, especially to the San Joaquin Valley. The cleaner diesel projects will fund cleaner locomotives, school buses, trucks, ships and agriculture irrigation pumps throughout California. These new technologies will eliminate approximately 88 tons of particulate matter, 1,232 tons of nitrogen oxides, and 102,118 tons of carbon dioxide emissions for the lifetime of these projects.

In addition, EPA launched a strategic plan for the San Joaquin Valley that will address serious issues including air and water quality, enforcement of public health standards and environmental justice.  The San Joaquin Valley is the top agricultural producer in California responsible for more than 250 unique crops and much of the nation’s fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Combined with its unique topography and wind patterns, the Valley’s success has resulted in severe impacts to the health of its more than four million residents. It also has some of the worst air quality in the country and the highest rates of childhood asthma in California. In addition, non-compliance with federal and state drinking water requirements are disproportionately affecting disadvantaged communities and small systems throughout the San Joaquin Valley.

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