AQMD Honors Local "Clean Air Heroes" at its 17th Annual Clean Air Awards

LOS ANGELES — The South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) will host its 17th Annual Clean Air Awards today, singling out individuals and organizations for significant contributions to cleaner air in the Southland over the past year.

In a luncheon at the Los Angeles Convention Center emceed by KCBS-TV’s traffic reporter Vera Jimenez, AQMD will honor 10 recipients including a state legislator, a physician specializing in air pollution health effects research, an alternative fuel technology pioneer and a 9-year-old environmental activist.

“From a young student campaigning for clean air so that he can play soccer without suffering an asthma attack, to a large food service company that voluntarily converted more than 50 trucks to run on clean-burning natural gas, our 2005 Clean Air Award winners represent the best and the brightest in our quest for better air quality,” said William A. Burke, Ed. D., chairman of AQMD’s Governing Board.

AQMD’s 2005 Clean Air Award winners are:

Sen. Lowenthal, who represents Long Beach and several surrounding communities, has single-handedly raised public awareness of air quality issues at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach through his community meetings, newsletters and legislative proposals.

During his tenure in the state Assembly, Lowenthal authored key air quality legislation requiring the ports to enclose their storage piles of petroleum coke, a black, oily powder that is a byproduct of petroleum refining. Another bill required marine terminal operators to use an appointment system whenever possible to reduce unnecessary idling of diesel trucks making pickups and deliveries. A third piece of legislation provided grant funding to encourage the purchase of electric vehicles.

Sen. Lowenthal is continuing to develop and propose legislation that would further reduce diesel emissions at the ports, including a proposal to levy a fee on shipping containers handled at the ports. The proceeds would be used to improve rail transport of goods, mitigate port-related air pollution and improve port security.

The Robert M. Zweig, M.D. Memorial Award
Dr. Ralph J. Delfino, Associate Professor, Epidemiology Division of the Department of Medicine, University of California, Irvine

Dr. Delfino, a longtime researcher in the field of air pollution health effects, now is studying the effects of microscopic airborne particles on elderly people suffering from coronary heart disease. His research on ultrafine particles is examining whether they may be as much or more of a health concern than PM10 and PM2.5 particles.

PM10 and PM2.5 refer to particles that are respectively 10 microns or less and 2.5 microns or less in diameter. Ultrafine particles are those smaller than 0.1 micron in diameter. (A single human hair is about 70 microns in diameter.) These microscopic particles, which come from fuel combustion in vehicles and other sources, pose a threat to public health since they can be breathed deep into lung tissue and even transferred into the bloodstream.

In February, Toronto-based FuelMaker in cooperation with American Honda unveiled a unique residential refueling appliance for natural gas vehicles. Dubbed “Phill,” the unit can be installed in a garage or outdoors and the compressor will fill the vehicle’s tank overnight.

FuelMaker also has provided the compressor for a new hydrogen refueling station at Honda’s facility in Torrance. The device compresses hydrogen produced by solar-powered electrolysis and stores it in composite tanks designed for 5,000 psi. The hydrogen is dispensed to fuel cell vehicles using a unique fast-fill and 3-bank cascade system.

RadTech International, a non-profit trade association, has played a key role in helping businesses convert to low-emission ultraviolet and electron-beam (UV/EB) curable inks and coatings. This technology achieves emission reductions well beyond AQMD rule requirements.

UV/EB technology virtually eliminates emissions of smog-forming volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from inks and coatings used for producing a wide range of products from magazines to credit cards to DVDs.

One Southland printer alone has reduced its VOC emissions by almost 50 tons per year. The coatings contain no toxic compounds, so there is much less hazardous waste requiring disposal.

The Interstate Clean Transportation Corridor (ICTC), administered by Santa Monica-based Gladstein, Neandross and Associates, is the first economically sustainable clean-fuel corridor in the nation.

ICTC provides alternative fuel dispensing stations along a 2,000-mile triangular corridor of interstate highway linking San Diego, Los Angeles, the San Joaquin Valley, San Francisco, Sacramento, Reno, Salt Lake City and Phoenix.

The ICTC recently opened its latest natural gas refueling station in Barstow, and is currently working on sites in Temecula, Commerce and Santa Clarita. The ICTC has also helped secure $3.4 million in grant funds for a freight distribution project using natural gas locomotives.

Model Community Achievement
The John T. Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

The John T. Lyle Center for Regenerative Studies seeks to teach, demonstrate and research regenerative technologies such as solar energy, water reuse, waste recycling, organic agriculture and “green” building designs that can significantly reduce air pollution.

At the center, buildings are innovatively designed to harness passive solar heating and optimize natural ventilation. Trees and shrubs shade the roofs, and east and west walls of the buildings. Solar cells on the roofs and other locations provide most of the energy used at the center. Renewable energy is also provided by a programmed tracking solar collector, a straw-bale greenhouse with photovoltaic shingles and a hybrid wind turbine/solar collector.

Nine-year-old Jonah Ramirez of San Bernardino has served as an asthma spokesperson for the American Lung Association of the Inland Counties (ALAIC) for more than two years.

“I am a normal kid who likes to play soccer and other outdoor sports,” he says. “Because of air pollution, I become sick with asthma. We need to change the laws; change the guidelines. We need to change our air.”

According to Patrick Kudell, executive director of the ALAIC, “Jonah has put a face on childhood asthma and articulated a message with which all parents can identify.”

SYSCO, the largest food service marketing and distribution organization in North America, has voluntarily converted 53 of its trucks to run on dual-fuel liquefied natural gas (LNG).

The company also installed a state-of-the-art LNG fueling station at its Walnut facility, and it plans to have 95 vehicles -- roughly half of its truck fleet -- operating on LNG in the near future.

The SYSCO fleet conversion policy initiated in California is now established at the corporate level for SYSCO vehicles operating in other states.

For the past nine years, Dan Dickerson has traveled to local Southern California schools, scout meetings and community events making a presentation called “Clean Air and You.”

For many years, Dan’s daughter Courtney, 14, has accompanied him to these speaking engagements. Their presentations emphasize what children can do to further the cause of clean air.

Dickerson, who now lives in Lancaster, is a former employee at the Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo, where he created an innovative, low-cost trip reduction program that serves as a model for military installations around the country.

Gigante USA, a retail supermarket chain primarily serving the Hispanic community, has partnered with the AQMD to conduct Clean Air Fiestas at their supermarket locations in Anaheim and Arleta.

Each fiesta drew an estimated 400 to 500 people. At the events, more than 130 new members joined AQMD’s Clean Air Congress. Health-related information was distributed by the American Lung Association and local hospitals. At the Anaheim event, free asthma screenings were conducted in a Breathmobile staffed by Children’s Hospital of Orange County.

AQMD is the air pollution control agency for Orange County and major portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.