Allegations by the federal Environmental Protection Agency that California, and Ventura County have fallen down on efforts to improve air quality are drawing angry responses in the state. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler sent a letter to the State Air Resources Board this week, saying the since the 1970’s California failed to carry out the basic requirements of the Clean Air Act.
The letter names Ventura County as one of the problem areas, raising the ire of Ventura County’s top air quality control official. Dr. Laki Tisopulos is Air Pollution Control Officer for the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District. The EPA letter threatenens the state with sanctions like the cutoff of federal fund for highway and transportation projects.
State officials say the EPA letter is filled with multiple inaccuracies, omissions, and misstatements. They say one of the biggest problems is an EPA paperwork backlog. They contend it’s had documents from the state that it’s failed to review, or consider.
The Ventura County Air Pollution Control official says the County met one of of the concerns raised, and hasn’t even come to the deadline to deal with the second.
He says the federal government is really sending mixed messages. It’s trying to roll back air quality standards for vehicles, which were supposed to become more stringent. At the same time, the EPA says California isn’t doing enough.
California does have areas with some of the worst air quality in the nation, but Tisopulos says the state is a global leader in trying to deal with the issue.
The Ventura County Air Pollution Control Officer says the bottom line is than in the two decade period cited in the EPA letter, the county has made remarkable progress in its cleanup efforts, with air pollution in the county down 80% to 90%.
