Environmental Justice Explained: Riverside County Case Studies

[00:00:00]My name is Lissete Ochoa, and I am currently  a recycling specialist here at Riverside   County Department of Waste Resources. I am very excited to jump into a topic   that is beyond the mainstream "environmentalism".  Environmental Justice is an integral aspect of   sustainability, and I hope everyone can leave  the class today with a better understanding.  Before we get started, I do want to  briefly mention that we will have a   check-in point during the class as well as 15  minutes in the end to address any questions,   so please feel free to drop those in the chat  as we move along, all questions are welcomed.   Riverside County is part of the ancient homeland  and traditional territory of eleven Tribal   Nations. We pay respect to all of their  ancestors and descendants, past, present,   and future, and their continuing presence  in the homeland. Today, this gathering place   is home to several Indigenous peoples from  all over the world. We recognize, honor,   and respect these nations as the traditional  stewards of the land, water, and air.  In addition to landfill management, the  Department of Waste Resources offers FREE,   educational classes focused  on sustainability and waste   diversion. Please visit our website  at rcwaste.org for more details!   So a little bit about me, once again, my name  is Lissete Ochoa and I am a recycling specialist   here at the Department of Waste Resources.  I recently graduated from UC Riverside where   I studied Sustainability and Environmental  Science. My background and interests include   environmental justice, waste reduction, and  community resilience. And a fun fact about me:   I've been a vegetarian for almost 6 years. Here is  our agenda for the class today.  We'll be kicking   off with some important definitions.  Next, we’ll  dive into the environmental and social justice   aspects. Then, we’ll take our newfound knowledge  and analyze some EJ Case Studies. Lastly,   we'll close with some actionable items we can all  take on to advocate for environmental justice. So,   let's first define our  different types of environments.  Our Natural Environment, is the one we  most commonly think of – land, water,   and air. The Natural Environment  also consists of living things and   natural processes such as trees, plants,  weather, and animals (that's including us!)

[00:02:07]We then have a Built Environment – one that us,  humans, have spent millions of years developing.   Think about our urban setting here in Riverside  County- we have homes, buildings, and roads.   Our Built Environment  undoubtedly impacts our natural   environment and to some degree, our human health. Lastly, we have our Social Environment. Perhaps   the most complex of all – this is environment  is not necessarily tangible or physical. You   may think of your social environment as your  immediate family, neighborhood, local city and   how everything operates. There are distinct rules,  roles, and values within a social environment.   Branching off our Social Environment term is  the concept of Social Justice. Social Justice,   in the simplest terms, refers to the ideas of  fairness and equal access among individuals   in a society. On the right-hand side we  have the 5 principles of Social Justice:   Resources, Equity, Participation,  Diversity, and Human Rights.  Finally, after we combine our different  environments and the theory of Social Justice,   we arrive at the concept of Environmental  Justice. Environmental Justice is the fair   treatment and meaningful involvement of  all people regardless of race, color,   national origin, or income with respect to the  development, implementation, and enforcement of   environmental laws, regulations, and policies.  And this definition is derived from the EPA.   So, some keywords to note in the definition of  Environmental Justice: Fair Treatment means no   group of people should bear a disproportionate  amount of environmental harms and risks.   Meaningful Involvement refers to an equitable  decision-making process. This looks like actively   involving potentially affected community  members in regards to proposed activities.   Certain communities across the country,  however, have faced inequitable treatment   and deliberate exclusion from  the decision making process.

[00:04:00]The term, Environmental Racism, was coined by  Benjamin Chavis, former executive director of   the United Church of Christ (UCC) Commission  for Racial Justice during a speech addressing   the hazardous polychlorinated biphenyl waste  of a Warren County Landfill in North Carolina.

[00:04:16]Simply put, Environmental Racism  is a form of institutionalized,   racial discrimination in environmental policy  making and the enforcement of regulation and laws.  Several factors like Intentional neglect, Lack of   affordable land, political power,  socioeconomic mobility and poverty,   as well as processes like gentrification  perpetuates environmental racism.  Environmental Injustice  ultimately refers to the fact that   historically marginalized low-income and communities   of color, have faced disproportionate exposure to  environmental risks and harms.  I won't get into too much detail, but many  of you may recall the water crisis in Flint,   Michigan, which began in 2014. Flint residents  faced the burdens of environmental injustice and   bad decision-making, when the city switched  its drinking water supply from Detroit’s   system to the Flint River in a cost-saving move.  Inadequate treatment and testing of the water   resulted in a series of major water quality  and health issues for Flint residents—issues   that were ignored, overlooked, and  discounted by government officials.   Flint serves as a reminder that safe water,  a basic human need, isn’t a guarantee.  Stakeholders are those who are involved in or  affected by a course of action. So, who are the   stakeholders in Environmental Justice? We have… Non-Governmental Organizations- these include   non-profit, private organizations that  operate outside of government control.  You can think of Greenpeace which is  an International and Environmental NGO.  Community-Based Organizations are a  type of non-governmental organization   that is representative of a community and  provides educational or related services. One   community based organization is  the Center for Community Action   and Environmental Justice (CCAEJ)  who are based in Riverside County.   Federal, state, tribal and local governments  refer to the governing body of cities, towns,   and districts. You can think of Riverside  County as a whole well as local City Councils.  Industry refers to a group of similar companies  based on their primary business activities such   as products produced and/or sold. One prominent  industry in Riverside County is the Logistics   or Warehouse Industry which refers to the sourcing  and distribution of goods. Academia can be thought   of as the interests of a university, college,  or academy. Academic research influences and   affects surrounding communities such as UC  Riverside and its impact on Riverside County.   Last but certainly not least everyone in this  session is a stakeholder in environmental justice!  Let’s now investigate the current state  of the environment. Most of the drinking   water in Southern California is sourced from  the Metropolitan Water District. Drinking   water may contain different types  of chemicals, microscopic organisms,   and radioactive materials but health agencies work  diligently to monitor these contaminants to meet   each of the mandatory health-related standards.  In addition to drinking water, recreational bodies   of water such as Lake Evans and Lake Perris  are also monitored for harmful algal blooms   and mercury to ensure the safety of residents. Riverside County doesn’t fare too well in terms   of air quality. According to a report by the  American Lung Association, Riverside County   received an "F" in 2019 and 2020. This letter  grade can be attributed to our natural topography,   which is our mountainous region, as well as  our proximity to the Los Angeles and Long   Beach ports which has made the Inland  Empire the epicenter for warehouses.  Finally, we have the ongoing climate  change crisis. Human-related activities,   such as the burning of fossil fuels, have led to  an increase in Greenhouse Gases in our atmosphere,   thus contributing to climate change. The impacts  of climate change include a rise in global   average temperature, increased wildfires, and  rising sea level which poses serious threats to   society and public health. Environmental justice  communities will face a disproportionate amount   of these climate-related stresses although  they contribute the LEAST to climate change.  Every human is impacted by their surrounding  environment- we all live in an affected   community.  However, each community faces  different environmental harms and risks due   to structural characteristics. CalEnviroScreen is  an online mapping tool, developed by the Office   of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment and  CalEPA, that provides insight into the harms that   may result from living in an affected community.  The CalEnviroScreen model is based on geography,   specifically census tracts in California. The model is made up of 4 components – 2 Pollution   Burden components and 2 Population Characteristics  components. Each component is comprised of a set   of indicators - 12 Pollution Burden indicators  and 8 Population Characteristics indicators.   Each census tract will receive scores for as  many of the 20 indicators as possible. For   each indicator, the scores are put in order from  highest to lowest which allows us to calculate a   percentile for all areas that have a score. An average of the indicators that make up a   component is first calculated. Then to obtain  the CalEnviroScreen score for a census tract,   we multiply the Pollution Burden score  by the Population Characteristics score.

[00:09:26]Here is a snapshot of the CalEnviroScreen  Indicator map in Moreno Valley, CA – specifically,   the Department of Waste Resources' headquarters  office.  The percentile scores are shown on the   right-hand side.  Most notable is the ground-level  Ozone percentile score. This census tract is 99%   higher than the rest of California in terms  of ozone.  Ground-level ozone is not emitted   directly into the air but is created by chemical  reactions between oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and   volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence  of sunlight. These pollutants are emitted by cars,   power plants, industrial facilities,  and other sources.  Ozone is a powerful   oxidant that can irritate the airways  in humans and harm sensitive vegetation.   Another online mapping tool is the  EJSCREEN developed by the EPA. Similar   to the CalEnviroScreen, this EJ mapping  and screening tool combines environmental   and demographic indicators to generate maps  and reports which are helpful to highlight   geographic areas that might need further  review, additional consideration, analysis,   or outreach. The screening tool has  Census block group resolution shows   how a selected area compares to the  relevant state, EPA region, or nation.  I once again used the address of the Department of  Waste Resources' headquarters office to generate   this report.  In this chart, we have the selected  variables for both environmental and demographic   indicators.  There are 12 environmental  indicators and 7 demographic factors.   Environmental indicators quantify proximity  and exposure to environmental pollutants,   such as nearby hazardous waste sites or traffic.  Demographic indicators are very general indicators   of a community's susceptibility to  the types of environmental hazards.    At the bottom of the slide, we have the formulas  used to calculate the Demographic and EJ indexes.    The Demographic Index is based on the  average of two demographic indicators;   low-income and people of color.  To calculate  a single EJ Index, EJScreen uses a formula to   combine a single environmental indicator with the  demographic index and considers how much the local   demographics are above the national average.  Here are all the EJ Index scores in comparison   to the state, region, and nation percentile. Each environmental indicator has its own EJ   Index. For example, the EJ Index for traffic  is a combination of the traffic indicator,   the low-income population,  and the minority population.  This graph chart shows the EJ Index in  comparison to all people's block groups in   the State/Region/US.  These percentiles provide  perspective on how the selected block group   area compares to the entire state, EPA region, or  nation. Most notable here is perhaps our EJ Index   for Superfund Proximity. Our 98th percentile  score for Superfund proximity nationwide means   that only 2% of the US population has a higher  block group value than the location we analyzed.  I'll stop here briefly to let all of that  info sink in and also see if we have any   questions in the chat or any comments  from the material discussed so far.   Ok, good so far, I'll continue.  The Environmental Justice Movement can be dated  back as early as 1982.   After protesting for   nearly 4 years against the State's plan to  transport contaminated soil to a landfill in their   community, African American residents of Warren  County, North Carolina led a non-violent, sit-in   protest against the polychlorinated biphenyl or PCB, toxic waste landfill.  PCBs are a group   of man-made organic chemicals used in hundreds  of industrial and commercial applications such   as electrical equipment, plastic products,  and oil-based paint.   PCBs have also been   demonstrated to cause a variety of adverse  health effects like cancer.   Despite the   community's efforts, the landfill was ultimately  constructed but the event led to a whole series of   investigations that revealed a connection  between the placing of toxic waste sites   and race.  This event is often described as the  catalyst for the Environmental Justice Movement.  The Inland Region is also home to historical  environmental justice grassroots efforts dating   back in the 1970s.  The 3 minute video clip I will  play now provides an overview of a trailblazer,   Penny Newman, and her exemplary efforts  to address the Stringfellow Acid Pits   toxic waste site located at the base of  the Jurupa Mountains in Pyrite Canyon.  The Stringfellow Acid Pits  is inarguably one of the most   impactful case studies in environmental justice.  EPA is celebrating the 35th anniversary of  the comprehensive environmental response   compensation and liability act otherwise known  as the Superfund law. Stringfellow Superfund   Site is the first and is one of the largest  Superfund sites in EPA specific Southwest   Regional Office. It's located in Riverside County  in the town of Jurupa Valley in California it was   added to the National priority listing in 1983.  The site ID is 0901 which indicates it is the   very first site in region 9. The site is a former  hazardous waste landfill that operated from 1956   until 1972. More than 32 million gallons  of liquid Industrial Waste were disposed   in unlined ponds including acids, caustics,  metals solvents, and pesticide byproducts.

[00:15:30]When the site would overflow, liquid contamination  would flow into the community eventually exposing   children and an elementary school to a  variety of toxic chemicals. These were   very dangerous chemicals my two boys being  little boys were playing in the puddles and   splashing around. We had kids there making  beards out of the foam and the youngest one,   who was the one who played in the puddles and  was into everything, would come home from school   talking about being dizzy and having blurred  vision and he started experiencing seizures.

[00:16:07]The community started organizing and having  community meetings and this is where we saw Penny   move forward and just be that community leader.  It changed my life. We need to not just sit back   and elect people or let agencies do things. We  have a responsibility to make sure that things   are done correctly. Out of Penny's hard work, we  modeled the technical assistance grants program-   the tag program. If it wasn't for Penny rising up  at that moment we wouldn't be where we are today.   To prevent any chance of future spills in the  Pyrite Creek the remaining liquid waste were   pumped from the disposal ponds in the late 70s.  Contaminated soil is excavated and the groundwater   extraction and treatment system was installed in  the canyon to prevent contaminated groundwater   from reaching the community south of the site.  While there is more work to do, EPA is proud   of the progress that has been made with our state  partners and that the current remedy is protective   of human health and the environment. The staff  that is there, I have great respect for them. I   think that's the most important part is for us to  listen and then get that feedback and that's that   feedback and that input process that super fund  is all about. You know our democracy really works   and it only works if people are involved. Looking  back on 35 years of super fund we've made a great   deal of progress in Stringfellow and at other  people fund sites and EPA is looking forward to   continuing the great work with our communities  to protect human health and the environment.

[00:17:52]The Stringfellow Acid Pits is inarguably  one of the most impactful case studies in   environmental justice. Let's dive into some of  the impacts of the toxic waste site. 35 million   gallons of industrial waste were deposited  at the site which led to adverse effects on   water quality. Perchlorate, as highest as 87,000  ppb, was found in groundwater and private wells in   the surrounding community. At high exposures,  Perchlorate may interfere with the production   of thyroid hormones. As we have learned,  Stringfellow Acid Pits is a superfund site so   remediation efforts include water treatment  facilities as you see on the left-hand side.    These buildings are a part of a larger campus of  the water pre-treatment plant which treats water   from existing acid pits in order to remove toxic  industrial waste such as solvents, heavy metals,   and pesticides. The buildings contain offices  and laboratories for the California Department   of State Toxic Substances Control, which  is the lead agency for clean up efforts  And just to reiterate this  groundwater contamination affected   not just the Glen Avon community,  but other municipalities in   the San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Rialto,  CA was also an affected area that had to establish   a perchlorate cleanup as well. * Similar  to the water crisis in Flint, Michigan,   The Stringfellow Acid Pits story reminds us  that clean water is not always a guarantee.  The concentration of warehouses, notably  Amazon, in the Inland region has led to   detrimental effects, particularly  to low-income communities of color.  The Diesel Particulate Matter emitted from  the large trucks is small enough to be inhaled   through the lungs which place community members  at a disproportionate rate for Asthma, Cancer,   Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary  Disease, and Premature Death.  A study published in the journal of Environmental  Health Perspectives observed people of color   breathe more polluted air than  white people, regardless of income.  In addition to the disproportionate  health impacts caused by warehouses,   the diesel trucks are idling and parking in  residential areas causing road damage. Naturally,   residents are fearful for their children  to play outside or even walk to school.   Community members also deal with noise pollution  and traffic congestion on a regular basis.  The video clip I will play is titled “How  online shopping is polluting California’s   Inland Empire” by the Los Angeles  Times. The video is around 8 minutes long.  This is an aerial view of Jurupa Hills High  School in Fontana, San Bernardino County,   in 2011. Ten years ago. And this is the  neighborhood today. More than 20 warehouses  now sit within a mile of the school,   and there are plans to build more. Fontana  has been called California's epicenter of   warehouses. There are more than 50 of them – including centers for UPS and Amazon – that take   up more than 16 million square feet throughout  the city. That's like four and a half Disneylands.   Their existence helps make it possible for us to  buy something online and have it arrive at our   door within hours. But all these mega warehouses  come at a cost. We're seeing thousands of trucks  per day. Because they're right next to  homes, it just spews all of these toxins  right into your backyard. The warehouses  are getting very close to our communities  and our schools. We have our students surrounded  with warehouses. Physicians have coined a   phrase for the unfortunate properties that now  neighbor the warehouses "diesel death zones."   It's not just Fontana. Just look 10 miles east.  I'm standing in the passenger terminal of the San   Bernardino airport. It's totally empty. This place  was supposed to offer flights to destinations   such as Mexico. Instead, the community got something else entirely. Amazon and others   plan to use the expanded airport as a West Coast  cargo hub to feed the demand of online shopping.  We know we can't shut this down, but we  want to get something that would benefit  us. California's office of attorney  general has taken notice of both projects,   filing lawsuits against the City of Fontana  and project developers in San Bernardino,  challenging the warehouse and airport  expansions. I think this is another example of,  of California leading the way of showing what's  possible. I'm Evan Halper with the Los Angeles   Times, and I'm reporting on California's novel  efforts to help communities overburdened with   pollution fight back. In the last decade, the  Inland Empire has become a national logistics hub,   due in part to the abundance of cheap land and its proximity to two major ports. A lot of those   imports, they get unloaded at the ports of  Long Beach and L.A., and they go through L.A.   into Riverside and San Bernardino. And then from  here, either through trucks or through freight,   are pushed out to the rest of the country. For  the city of Fontana, that has meant the building   of dozens of warehouses, often backing right  up to residential areas and schools. In April,   the city approved a new warehouse alongside  Jurupa Hills High School, where 2,000 students  are predominantly Latino and 83% of them  qualify for free or reduced-price meals.  This caused an uproar. During a city council  meeting in June, 53 community members  spoke out against it because of the  traffic and pollution it would cause.  PM2.5 concentration is considered  to be damaging to lungs when it's  greater than 2.10 micrograms per  milliliter. In Fontana, that level is 12.  It's 12. If we put this warehouse in, we're  going to have 2.5 levels as high as China.  You understand it damages us for ever. It's  obvious that the southern residents have it worse.   They bear all the, the burden of the warehouse  industry, the shipping industry, Amazon. It's all   in the south. It's all in the lower-income areas.  And it's messed up, man. It's working out for you,   elected officials. It's not working for us. The meeting lasted three hours. Our concerns   have fallen on deaf ears. We want a sustainable  community, one with, you know, where we can walk  and breathe and, and it doesn't seem to  matter. In the end, all but one city council  member voted against the  appeal to stop the project.  But the project caught the attention  of California's attorney general,  whose Environmental Justice Bureau  filed a lawsuit against the city of  Fontana in July, challenging the project.  There have been multiple warehouses  already built near this community  that was impacted, and there's two   public high schools here. And so when the  Slover and Oleander warehouse project was  proposed and it was expected to add  a really high pollution burden –  approximately 114 daily truck trips, 272  daily passenger car trips – we got involved.  The more traffic that we have, the longer  those trucks idle while they're sitting  in traffic, and so it spirals. It's the  traffic that then contributes to the air  pollution. The surrounding neighborhood  is already more polluted than 97%  of the census tracts in the state. Meanwhile, Fontana's mayor,  Acquanetta Warren, takes pride in her moniker "Warehouse Warren."  Fontana is open for business.  The city clearly benefits from these relationships.  This year's state of the city address featured a gospel choir,  barbershop quartet and whatever this is: "You got to  have friends." Mayor Warren says that the  warehouses will bring jobs to Fontana, which was struggling with  high unemployment levels before the warehouse boom started about a  decade ago. Many think of these buildings as  just warehouses, but they are job centers.  I want to change the narrative right now. They are job  centers. Members of a local union agree.  They were also present at that June city council meeting in favor of  the new warehouse project. Personally, myself, I know and a  lot of other brothers and sisters in my union have literally seen  projects similar to this save people's lives last year during  the pandemic. These are the jobs that keep my members and my union  brothers alive every day. Our issue here with the warehouse  development is ourselves. If there wasn't a demand on  online shopping, we wouldn't have a need for  warehouse development. So if we don't want warehouse developments, then  we stop buying online. But some say these warehouse jobs  aren't good jobs. I know the quality of these jobs and  I see the high turnover of people. Like, people don't last.  And so... Yeah, it doesn't provide for  sustainable living. We want jobs that pay decent  wages so that people can actually shop in our community.  They can rent apartments in our community, so that they could  afford to live here. The warehouse jobs do not  do that. In nearby San Bernardino, an  expansion of the airport was approved in December of 2019,  that would host a 658,000-square-foot air cargo  warehouse for Amazon, drawing 26 flights and at least 500  truck trips daily. On top of the traffic already there  from UPS, FedEx and others.  Then the attorney general's office stepped in, accusing the Federal  Aviation Administration, the local airport authority and the project  developers of overlooking the high asthma rates and other health  problems suffered by the San Bernardino Muscoy community.  CalEnviroScreen ranks the community in the top 5% of the state's  most polluted areas. And more than 95% of the people  in the mostly Latino community are living below the poverty level.  It's an environmental justice issue.  They see the land. They want to use the land,  but then they also see people as cheap labor.  These have been communities that don't look to government for support  because they haven't gotten support from government. We want the jobs to  be created. We want the project to go forward and we want it to  be done in a responsible way. Both lawsuits are still in court.  Mayor Warren described settlement conversations underway in Fontana  as "substantive and meaningful," but she also said her critics are  blaming warehouses for environmental problems that predate their  construction. Fed up residents, meanwhile, say  they are encouraged that they are no longer shouting into the abyss.  To have the attorney general's office  be involved in this case and file a lawsuit against the city  of Fontana is very validating.  It sends a very loud and clear message that what  the city is doing is not right.  To learn more, read the full story  on LATimes.com and check out my United States of  California series about the impact of California's agenda   on the rest of the nation.

[00:28:56]So, a lot to take in, right? A human  right, the right to breathe clean air,   has become heavily politicized. It's important  to note too that the communities doing the   LEAST amount of online shopping  are facing the most environmental   and social burdens. These issues remain  contemporary- we are battling lawsuits,   demanding equitable and sustainable conditions,  and advocating for public health daily.  Here is a snapshot of the number of warehouses in  Riverside County to put things into perspective.

[00:29:31]Land Use, Open Space, and Zoning are aspects of   urban/regional planning that affect our  natural, built, and social environments.

[00:29:38]Bloomington is an unincorporated area  in San Bernardino County that is mostly   rural with lots of open space. Most residents,  predominately Hispanic and low-income, live off   their land with nurseries and organic farms. The Bloomington Business Park Specific Plan   Project is an approx. 3 million square feet  project, equivalent to 173 football fields,   that will permit land use for warehousing and  business parks. This project will displace 213   homes, reduce walkability, and exacerbate  air pollution and traffic congestion.

[00:30:10]#BloomingtonIsnotForSale or #BloomingtonNoSeVende  refers to the local grassroots movement   of preserving the rich agriculture  and community-centered lifestyle in   Bloomington for current and future generations.  Community members and local activists recently   voiced their opposition to the project at the  San Bernardino Planning Commission Meeting in   September this year. The planning commission  approved the Business Park project, but final   decision will be determined by the San Bernardino  Board of Supervisors in the upcoming months.

[00:30:40]The short clip I will play now is from December of  last year and highlights local community action.

[00:30:54]Hi everybody, my name is Katie Towne and  I've been working with the concerned neighbors of bloomington to stop more  warehouses coming into bloomington. Our biggest effort right now is to stop the  big Bloomington Business Specific Plan which is going to knock down homes and  replace them with warehouses next to Zimmerman Elementary, Bloomington High  School, and Ruth O'hare's Middle School. Today, we were out here with CCAEJ talking  to the community and just getting information out about these projects and  how we can work together to stop them so that our community can stay beautiful  instead of being overtaken by these corporations and these warehouses. We are  asking the public anybody from the inland empire to make their comments  known to this county that we don't want this to happen because it will harm our  community. We have a survey going out you can find it on our our Instagram page  cnbloomingtonca and Facebook as well we hope to hear from you all soon so thank  you so much and Bloomington Is Not For Sale Bloomington No Se Vende!

[00:31:50]Bloomington’s   fight reminds us that environmental justice  issues are localized and different for every   single community. While we don’t face projects  like waste-to-energy incinerators as much as other   states, we instead have private companies that buy  land and place certain communities at risk.   Like the right to clean air and water, every  person deserves access to food and nutrition.

[00:32:22]Some neighborhoods across the U.S.,  however, lack access to healthy,   affordable foods. The causes of  food deserts are multifaceted,   but most food deserts are concentrated in  low-income and historically marginalized   communities where residents must  travel long distances to supermarkets.

[00:32:38]Food deserts are a major public health concern;   those living in food deserts are more likely  to experience food insecurity which may lead   to health disparities like high rates of  obesity and chronic illnesses. The state   of California will address food insecurity  through SB 1383’s surplus food recovery   component. The rollout of food donations  will require strong community partnerships.

[00:33:00]Tune into our FREE, virtual Food Waste  – Food Rescue class this Saturday at 9   am via WebEx to learn more about  wasted food and how to rescue it!

[00:33:11]There is some hope and light to all of this!  Some mitigation efforts have been made by   state and local regulatory agencies. Advanced  Clean Truck Rule, adopted by the California   Air Resources Board or CARB, is a holistic  approach to accelerate a large-scale transition   of zero-emission medium and heavy duty vehicles.  This regulation will apply to vehicles starting at   8,000 to over 30,000 pounds.  By 2035,  zero-emission truck/chassis sales will   need to be 55% of Class 2b – 3 truck sales,  75% of Class 4 – 8 straight truck sales,   and 40% of truck tractor sales.  Reporting  this information will help identify future   strategies to ensure that fleets purchase  available zero-emission trucks and place them   in service where suitable to meet their needs.  The Warehouse Indirect Source Rule adopted by   the South Coast Air Quality Management District  is a rule specific to its jurisdiction which   includes portions of Los Angeles, Riverside and  San Bernardino counties and all of Orange County.    Warehouses are required to implement  a variety of “green projects” to earn   enough points to meet the Compliance Obligation. Point-earning actions for compliance obligations   include zero-emissions on-road trucks,  zero-emission cargo handling equipment,   and solar panels or zero-emission  charging and fueling infrastructure.  Alternatively, a facility may opt to pay  a mitigation fee instead. South Coast AQMD   states the funds generated from mitigation  fees will be used to incentivize the purchase   of cleaner trucks and charging/fueling  infrastructure in nearby communities.    The World Logistics Center in Moreno Valley, CA  must comply with the Warehouse Indirect Source   rule and will be the first net-zero (greenhouse  gas) project in the nation. The developers,   Highland Fairview, are investing approx.  $12.1  million in electric vehicles, solar electricity,   and taking measures to reduce air quality,  local wildlife, and residential impacts.   The project is approximately  the size of 3 Central Parks.  There are also mitigation  efforts at the community level!

[00:35:15]A community benefits agreement is exactly as it  sounds; it is an agreement between developers,   public and private entities, and community based  organizations which aim to address concerns   and existing or potential harms. There are two  types of CBAs: Voluntary & Legally-mandated. And   some of these community benefits agreements  can include truck traffic rerouting,   stormwater infrastructure, continuous air  quality monitoring, and noise reduction.

[00:35:44]Warehouse moratoriums are usually approved by  city councils and require a four-fifths vote.   Moratoriums can be extended for as long  as two years. During the temporary pause,   stakeholders may spend time  to research impacts and risks.  Lastly, Good Neighbor Guidelines are implemented  to identify ways to ensure air quality, noise   and neighborhood character are considered as new  industrial facilities are sited in the City. The   guidelines assist developers, property owners,  elected officials, community organizations,   and the public in understanding ways to balance  new industrial development with protecting the   City’s residential use and neighborhoods. And  some examples of the good neighbor guidelines   include ensuring air quality and health risks  are evaluated, noise impacts are reduced,   and protect residential use and neighborhood  character of the City or sensitive receptors.

[00:36:40]Here are some actionable items we can all take on  to advocate for environmental justice. We can get   involved and donate; Please do not limit yourself  to these organizations.  But these are some of   the organizations we've touched on throughout  the class there are many other orgs that are   doing a lot of Grassroots work and addressing  environmental justice issues in our communities.   We can also stay informed that looks like reading  your local news, familiarizing yourself with   local elected officials, and using your voice by  attending and participating in public hearings I'll end today's session with some quotes:  "We abuse land because we regard it as  a commodity belonging to us when we see   land as a community to which we belong we  may begin to use it with love and respect."  "The environment and the economy are really  both two sides of the same coin. If we cannot   sustain the environment we cannot sustain  ourselves." Just some food for thought.

[00:37:41]Thank you so much for joining our class  session today please stay connected,   follow us on social media, there's also a feedback  form that you can fill out by scanning the QR code   but I believe there's also a link being shared  in the chat. And just a reminder we do have   upcoming free educational classes for the rest  of the month we have Food-Waste Food-Rescue on   Saturday. We also have green cleaning and green  gardening next Wednesday and in November we'll   be starting back up with our backyard composting  and vermicomposting classes. Thank you so much!

[00:38:19]i don't know if there's any questions in the  chat that we can address or any discussion   points. Feel free to unmute yourself as well if  you want to ask something or provide any feedback,   thank you! We actually did have a  question from Tom Beneski and it   was were costs associated with  the Stringfellow Pits shared   with the industrial companies and pollutants  or absorbed entirely by the EPA and taxpayers Let me go back to that slide.

[00:38:58]So I believe there was reparations  for the community members affected.   As far as the cost for cleanup efforts, that  was administered by the EPA and I believe the   lead agency now is the California  Department for toxic substances,   so that's how the fees are being managed. I  don't know if that addressed the question?

[00:39:27]It was simply that that whether or not uh any of  the companies that were involved with creating   the industrial pollutants that were then had to be  mitigated wherever fined or any of their. Did they   have to contribute to the fund that actually made  the reparations and made the uh uh the cleanup   and mitigation efforts a reality or was it all  state and federal funds basically taxpayer based  That's a good question, I know  there was the lawsuit against   the owner, James Stringfellow, I don't know the  exact details on the lawsuit or how much mone, but   I can look into that and get back to you on that.  Yeah thank you I was just it was just more of a   curiosity it seems in a lot of cases a lot of the  issues become um companies go bankrupt companies   go out of business companies move and then the  taxpayer and or the through its EPA or the state   agencies have to end up picking up the tab for  any of the repairs of mitigation that's all it's   just more of a comment. No, it's a good point-  a good question. I can look into that further.

[00:40:58]I want to ask a question this is Tracy um Tom  knows me he's out here in Temescal Valley as well   um we do our due diligence because we're an active  Community. How do other unincorporated communities   get these message out other than the 600 feet  or 600 yards from a project that it's coming to   fruition unless that we share the inequities, how  do we get the word out to those communities that   notoriously get hit with bad projects that they  don't realize that are coming to their backyards?   And how how do we help those other communities  um uh I I don't really worry too much about us   because we've got our thumb on the on the pulse  of what what's happening in our community but   um I mean it I would hate to see  repeats of what we've already seen   um and you know to continue on so um  that's my first question and I have   a second one so you can answer that one first. So I think if I understood the question was how   can we support unincorporated areas right? Yes.  Yeah, I know for the city of Bloomington which we   discussed they have representatives since they  don't have a city council they have a district   representative, I believe, that you know meant  to advocate for their concerns and their needs.   So I think it would go back to the point on just  being you know reading up on local news seeing   what is happening in their community what hearings  are being held. I think just being up to date with   the development on the end but it's also difficult  too right because sometimes these hearings are   announced at a short, late notice which doesn't  give the community enough time to react right   into properly organize themselves and address  their needs so really just have to dig deep and   just be up to date on some of the development in  those areas. Right that that that's true um it's   just it's hard to help those other communities  that are don't necessarily have their finger on   the pulse so um additionally um what you're saying  about aqmd or um the environmental justice of EPA   um uh I I hadn't seen that before um we use a aqmd  and purple air out here to monitor our air quality   um we began that project back in 2019 after um  having uh become part of a grant that AQMD had   with purple air and their and um everything so  we've been monitoring our air quality down here   since 2019 before the Holy Fire it has not  been showing that these little purple air   um uh they're small devices but they're  they work really well for the 2.5 which   is more smoke than dust you have to have  really small dust in order to be the 2.5   PMs and if you're if you're um counting  on the 10 PMS which is more the dust   um that's that we're really worried about  but we have this gigantic monitoring hole in   um because our closest uh one of our closest dust  controllers is not until Norco and that's the one   that they checked for for dust and also other  pollutants um like ozone and and other things   but then the next one is is just south of or just  kind of on the southern end of Lake Elsinore which   leaves us this gigantic hole where we have um uh  water district we have the uh landfill we have   um 13 different mines that are surrounding our  community not just from within the community   but we have them just to the north of us um  that run along kahalco and so um using this   other format I'm I'm hoping that we'll be able  to see a little bit more but we have an AQMD   um talk tonight at our local um Temescal Valley  Municipal advisory council meeting which is a   Mac meeting um that helps the unincorporated  communities I wish all unincorporated communities   have MACs but they do not and so that's one way  to get out um you know the information but I   um so maybe the next time that you do this talk  also look at the purple air um which is specific   just um to AQMD but um we delved deep into that  um process because of our grant and our because   of our little equipment but that's all I had  to add I kind of got a soapbox there sorry no you're fine thank you Tracy yeah  that's awesome they have purple air.   It's definitely helpful to know what's happening  right directly in the air that you breathe.

[00:46:54]I don't think there are any other questions.

[00:47:02]If there are no more final  questions or final comments,   we can end the session for today. Once  again, thank you everyone for joining us!   Some additional resources will be available on  our website regarding environmental justice and as   always, please feel free to tune in to more of our  free classes and events. Thank you! So does this   um is this uh video placed anywhere do you  have it on the YouTube channel or anything?  Yes, it will shortly go up on our YouTube  page! thank you so much. Yeah thank you.