Press Conference and Rally with Community Advocates Calling on the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) to Reject Massive Pollution Initiative

What:       Press conference and rally with over 100 community and clean air advocates to brief reporters, provide background information and community perspectives on the massive pollution initiative contemplated by the AQMD and its impacts to residents in the Los Angeles region.

 

When:       Friday, August 3, 8:40 a.m. PDT

 

Where:      The South Coast Air Quality Management District Headquarters at 21865 Copley Dr, Diamond Bar, CA 91765

 

Who:        Darryl Molina
, Communities for a Better Environment

                Tim Grabiel, Environmental Justice Attorney, NRDC

                Jane Williams, California Communities Against Toxics
    

               
Jesse Marquez, Coalition for a
Safe
Environment

 

Why:        This Friday, August 3, AQMD will vote on two rules that could allow dozens of highly polluting facilities to be built in Southern California. If the District approves the rules, it would allow the construction of numerous fossil fuel power plants in densely populated areas already burdened by too much air pollution. The facilities – including 11 power plants – will generate over 81 million pounds per year of new emissions associated with asthma and cancer, and allow in excess of 35 billion pounds per year of CO2 (a greenhouse gas) – approximately 5 percent of California’s current CO2 inventory.

 

This is the third time these rules have come before AQMD’s Governing Board. On September 8, 2006, it approved similar rules. Last month, it decided to postpone the decision because the members were given only two days to review the staff’s proposal. 

 

In October 2006, the coalition filed a lawsuit for violations of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The lawsuit is still pending in state court. The coalition asserts that the current versions of the rules do not address the underlying state law violations.