San Joaquin Valley Ranked as &quotSevere&quot

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Ozone Region Sequoia National Park is the smoggiest national park in America, with twice as many unhealthy ozone days last year as LA and New York combined. With so much air pollution in the Central, or San Joaquin Valley, ten percent of the people who live there have asthma. The federal EPA has finally declared the area environmentally hazardous. How did an agricultural wonderland, the heart of the dairy industry, get so dirty? And what's being done to clean it up? We hear from the Sierra Club, the Valley's Air Pollution Control District, and the great-great-grandson of one of the area's settlers, a San Joaquin Valley resident himself.
  • Newsmaker: Cities, Counties Want State Far from Their Money - During the recession of the early 90's, California raided the budgets of cities and counties. Now, in less than a year, the energy crisis and events of September 11 have turned a budget surplus into a 14 billion-dollar deficit. Chris McKenzie, head of the 476-municipality League of California Cities, fears that it could happen again.

California State Association of Counties

League of California Cities

State of California

California Air Resources Board

San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District Rules

Sierra Club

Credits

Host:

Warren Olney

Producer:

Frances Anderton