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Group tries to clear air of politics
Leaders of campaign seek to relieve skepticism about intent.
By Mark Grossi The Fresno Bee(Published Friday, November 15, 2002, 10:06 AM)
The San Joaquin Valley's biggest industries, bankrolled by $2 million from ChevronTexaco, announced Thursday that their new, nonprofit campaign for clean air would aim at answers, not delays or lawsuits.
But one environmental activist was skeptical as he viewed the public introduction to Clean Air Now, the industries' new nonprofit group. Sierra Club member Kevin Hall said such well-funded efforts are commonly used to manipulate the political system.
"These are the same industries that have been weakening and diluting regulations for a decade," he said. "They intimidate the local board, which is filled with local politicians."
Clean Air Now board members said their goal is healthful air, not politics. Several board members said they joined the effort because it would be directed at "real world" solutions and projects.
As its first official act, the board presented a $20,000 check to the Fresno Business Council's Air Quality Task Force, a group focused on research and development of clean-air solutions.
The new industry-based group has not yet defined specific projects, but ideas range from helping to replace old farm diesel engines to repairing older cars for people who can't afford to fix them.
Officials said they want to encourage the community to approach the group with clean-air ideas that can be promoted and funded. They said they also want to educate the public about its role in cleaning up the air.
"This is grass-roots leadership," said Bob Maddux, a building-industry official who is board president of Clean Air Now. "We're not about pointing fingers at what's happened in the past."
But the Valley's past is one reason the group was formed. The area has missed many air-cleanup deadlines, prompting threats of federal sanctions and, more recently, environmental lawsuits.
In the past year, lawsuits have revealed years of federal neglect regarding Valley air-cleanup plans, which have been inadequate to make the air healthful. Lawsuit settlements with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are resulting in a flurry of deadlines in the next three years for the Valley, considered the second-worst air basin in the nation.
The consequences of missing the deadlines include federal sanctions that would be costly to new and expanding businesses. Federal road-building funds also would be withheld.
The sanctions, along with the social stigma of unhealthful air, would no doubt affect businesses backing the new Clean Air Now group, some board members said. The businesses include farming, building, petroleum and various other enterprises.
But the political consequences of the Valley's air problems are not part of the equation for the new nonprofit group, said board member Gus Freshwater, a Kern County businessman.
"We're not here trying to manage the regulatory issues," Freshwater said. "Many of us have personal reasons. My wife has asthma. She didn't develop it until we moved here from Texas."
In response to reporters' questions, K.C. Bishop of ChevronTexaco, which has extensive operations in Bakersfield, said the companies represented on the new board are not involved in lawsuits over air. But he agreed ChevronTexaco is a member of the Western States Petroleum Association, which is appealing a federal decision about an air-rule exemption for the petroleum industry in Kern County.
Valley farmers also have been represented this year by the California Farm Bureau in an appeal of a federal decision over an agricultural exemption to air rules.
"But, as individuals, we aren't involved with those cases," Bishop said. "You have to judge us on what we do in Clean Air Now."
Environmentalists remained suspicious. Luke Cole of the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment in San Francisco said people should watch carefully to see what the group accomplishes.
"When faced with regulation, industries will create a committee to suggest less protective regulations that mean more profits for them and more pollution for the rest of us," he said. "Valley residents should see through this latest industry smoke screen."
The reporter can be reached at mgrossi@fresnobee or 441-6316.
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