State awards $500,000 for methane monitoring stations in Valley
BRAWLEY — Comité Cívico del Valle Inc. has been awarded $500,000 by the state of California to install about five new methane monitoring stations across Imperial Valley, with collected data used by scientists to chart emissions sources and airflow trends.
“We are going to be launching methane monitors in Imperial Valley, and we are going to be expanding the work we did in Imperial Valley and duplicating it into the northern part of the Salton Sea so that we have complete coverage,” Jose Luis Olmedo Velez, Comité Civico executive director, said during a press conference held Thursday morning at the community organization’s office in Brawley.
Various media outlets and public officials, including California Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia and State Sen. Ben Hueso, attended the event.
“Air pollution travels from the north to the south, and east and west, so the more coverage that we have, the better information we have and the better we can tackle these problems by targeting those emissions sources,” Velez said.
The California Air Resources Board has awarded a total of $10 million in grants to help 25 community-groups and three Native American tribes across the state reduce air pollution in their areas.
Veronica Eady, California Air Resources Board assistant executive officer, touted the cooperation between Comité Cívico and the state.
“We have forged a really deep partnership with Comité Cívico del Valle,” Eady said. “We recognize that not only are they a beacon here for the Valley, but they really have set the standard for the environmental justice community and air-quality and public-health issues related to public air monitoring” across the state.
The grant money is being allotted through California Assembly Bill 617, a law that went into effect on July 26, 2017. It provides a community-focused action framework to reduce exposure to pollution within disadvantaged communities most affected by air pollution, including Imperial Valley.
“For us it was extremely important that the air pollution problems that are central to poor communities of color that are economically challenged become a priority,” said Garcia, who represents District 56 and was a lead author of AB-617. District 56 includes Imperial County.
“AB-617 is one of the most significant advancements in air pollution laws that have been passed in decades — not just in California but across the country,” he said.
“Here, a year into this program, a year into adopting this law, we are beginning to see the rollout, and we are beginning to see the funding make its way to our district. Being able to stand here with you all in recognition of the $500,000 that will make its way back to Imperial County to expand the air monitoring program is a great success.”
AB-617 “does many things,” Velez said. “It targets emissions reductions in communities, [and] it empowers communities to participate in citizen science to democratize our participation in helping create a healthy environment for our community.
In Imperial [County] we have been successful to conquer that challenge. Today we operate the largest air-monitoring network in the state of California, and perhaps the nation.”
And, within the near future, that air-monitoring network will grow even larger, with the added benefit of being able to detect methane in the atmosphere.
“The purpose of doing this type of monitoring for methane is to help us understand how methane interacts with our [established air pollution] monitors,” Velez said. “Ultimately, we want to make sure that if these sources of emissions are reaching populated areas, [we can determine] how it is affecting them.”
When asked when and where in Imperial County the new methane monitors will be installed, Velez said that has not yet been determined.
“As soon as this project gets off the ground, which I imagine might be” later in July, “we are going to convene our community steering committee, and we are going to meet with our scientists, and we are going to go through a step-by-step process,” he said.
“We will take guidance from the community. They will tell us what their concerns are, and then we will [consult] scientists to help us fill in the scientific and regulatory methodologies that go with that. At this point, we don’t know” at what locations the monitors will be installed.
Methane emissions sources in Imperial County include landfills, livestock feedlots and Salton Sea wetlands, among others, Velez said.
Methane is a colorless, odorless, tasteless and flammable gas that is produced whenever organic material is decomposed by bacterial action in the absence of oxygen, according to Accredited Environmental Technologies. The atmosphere naturally contains about 2.2 parts per million by volume of methane.
Methane is relatively non-toxic, according to AET, but it can displace oxygen in the lungs at high concentrations. That could prove detrimental to those who suffer from asthma as they already have trouble breathing.
Hueso, representing the 40th Senate District, said he was pleased tangible action is taking place in Imperial County through this project. District 40 includes Imperial County.
“People that have been living this problem … have had enough and want to see change, and we want to be part of that effort and ensuring we have success in achieving our goals,” Hueso said. “We can’t ignore the conditions that we live with every day. We are consistently living in a community with the poorest air quality in the nation.”
According to the California Air Resources Board, in 2015 the Salton Sea Air Basin had 128 days that exceeded the federal standards for particulate matter in the atmosphere.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the size of particles is directly linked to their potential for causing health problems. Small particles less than 10 micrometers in diameter pose the greatest public health threat because they can be breathed deep into a person’s lungs and then seep into the bloodstream. Numerous scientific studies have linked particle pollution exposure to premature death in people with heart or lung disease, non-fatal heart attacks, irregular heartbeat, aggravated asthma, a decrease in lung function, irritation to airways, coughing and difficulty breathing.
“Basically one third of the year, people are living here in conditions where the air quality is considered unhealthy to live in,” Hueso said. “It is not just something we can just stand by and continue to tolerate. We have to do something about it, and it has taken a monumental effort … to be heard by government. It has been a concerted effort” between Comité Cívico, Imperial County and state government to instigate action.
“It is nice to be here after years of working on this and saying we are finally getting money for the Salton Sea,” Hueso said. “We are getting money for air monitoring. We are getting money for restoration projects. We are moving forward and we are making gains.”
Video of the entire press conference can be found online at https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=pK4dk5zkAIE.
For more information about Comité Cívico, visit https:// www.ccvhealth.org/