Feb. 7, 2003
The Southland’s air
quality agency today approved a plan to carry out Chairman William Burke’s
initiatives to fund clean school buses and further research on the links between
air pollution, asthma and brain cancer.
The South Coast Air
Quality Management District’s Governing Board approved funding and advisory
board memberships for a Lower-Emission School Bus Replacement & Retrofit Program
Fund, an Asthma and Outdoor Air Quality Consortium and a Brain Tumor and Air
Pollution Foundation.
“These initiatives will
help us reduce school children’s exposure to toxic diesel pollution and address
important scientific questions about the health effects of air pollution,” Burke
said.
The Board:
- Authorized 70 percent of the air pollution penalty revenues in
2003 to be set aside for the clean school bus program. In the case of major
penalty settlements greater than $200,000, 70 percent of the penalty will go
toward the purchase of clean school buses or retrofit control devices at a
school district near or downwind of the facility paying the penalty;
- Transferred $438,000 from fiscal year 2002-03 penalty fees
(representing 10 percent of fees collected during the first six months of the
fiscal year) to establish the Asthma and Outdoor Air Quality Consortium. The
consortium will be led by John Froines, an air pollution health expert at UCLA’s
School of Public Health. It will be composed of researchers from major
universities in Southern California including University of Southern California,
UC Irvine, UC Riverside and Loma Linda University;
- Transferred $438,000 from fiscal year 2002-03 penalty fees for the
Brain Tumor and Air Pollution Foundation. The overall relationship between air
pollution and brain cancer is not well understood due to a lack of studies. The
foundation would support research on the possible connection and solicit
participation from brain cancer patients in the region; and
- Appointed advisory boards to oversee each of the initiatives. All
three boards include selected AQMD Board members, and the research efforts also
include outside scientists and health experts.
AQMD is the air
pollution control agency for Orange County and major portions of Los Angeles,
San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
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