The dirty politics of clean air: Community-based air monitoring and management in California

Keywords: environmental justice, structural racism, air pollution, public policy
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Monday
Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 02:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 03:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 23

Abstract

California boasts both the most stringent air pollution regulation and areas with the worst air quality in the country. Low-income people and people of color in both rural and urban areas throughout the state breathe hazardous air: a legacy of decades of racist land use, transportation, housing and industrial siting policies and practices. This provokes fierce conflicts between public agencies, industry, community organizations and residents over the strategies and the responsibilities for cleaning the air. Assembly Bill (AB 617), passed in 2017 was intended to develop community-based air quality monitoring and management strategies in these highly-polluted areas. It also grew out of the legislature and governor’s efforts to reduce opposition to an extension of the state’s market-based cap and trade climate change policies. Over the first three years of its implementation, tensions between environmental justice organizations and residents on the one hand and government agencies on the other have reached a boiling point. This study draws on a three year (on-going) evaluation of AB 617 that examines how the voices of residents and community organizations representing these neighborhoods are positioned relative to the authorities of public agencies; in what ways are issues of structural racism addressed (or not); and to what extent does this policy truly meet the needs of the communities in greatest need of redress and reparations? It contributes to the dialogue on critical environmental justice through examining the question of the potential for the state to address environmental injustices.