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| Air Pollution Costs San Joaquin Valley $3 Billion a Year
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| Posted by: Community Fuels |
3/30/2006 |
Press Release of CA State University, Fullerton-- A new study released today puts a $3 billion price tag on the impact of air pollution on the health of San Joaquin Valley residents. Conducted by a team of nationally recognized economists and a leading air-quality expert, the study is the first such analysis of the region’s air quality.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Air Pollution Costs San Joaquin Valley $3 Billion a Year |
Press Release of CA State University, Fullerton-- A new study released today puts a $3 billion price tag on the impact of air pollution on the health of San Joaquin Valley residents. Conducted by a team of nationally recognized economists and a leading air-quality expert, the study is the first such analysis of the region’s air quality.
“The Health and Related Economic Benefits of Attaining Healthful Air in the San Joaquin Valley” is based on the review and analysis of dozens of peer-reviewed economic and scientific studies. The results include the costs of health problems, premature deaths, missed school days and decreased worker productivity that result from air pollution in the region.
“It’s sobering to see the costs exacted by the Valley’s polluted air. But now we know the price the region pays,” said Jane V. Hall, an internationally recognized authority on environmental economics, professor of economics and co-director of Cal State Fullerton’s Institute for Economic and Environmental Studies.
The research team includes Victor Brajer, Cal State Fullerton professor of economics who has partnered with Hall on a number of environmental economics studies, and Fred Lurmann, who has 27 years of experience in air-quality and exposure analysis, and advises several state air-pollution agencies.
According to the study, the cost of air pollution averages $1,000 per person per year, and represents the following:
460 premature deaths among those age 30 and older
23,300 asthma attacks
188,000 days of school absences
3,230 cases of acute bronchitis in children
3,000 lost work days
325 new cases of chronic bronchitis
188,400 days of reduced activity in adults
260 hospital admissions
More than 17,000 days of respiratory symptoms in children
The report indicates that some communities, including those with high populations of Latinos/Hispanics and African-Americans, are harder hit than others, due to the varying concentrations of dirty air around the region.
The report cautions that the problem will become much worse if left unaddressed. The San Joaquin Valley’s current population of more than 3 million residents is expected to grow by a third by 2020, with traffic and driving expected to increase at an even greater rate during the same period.
“The San Joaquin Valley can’t afford to foot this bill. We’re losing lives, money and making the Central Valley an increasingly less attractive place to live and work. It is far too expensive to do nothing. We need to make an investment in the region’s economic future,” said state Sen. Dean Florez (D-Shafter), chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Air Quality in the Central Valley.
“We have a choice to make — watching the burden of air pollution health effects increase for the region’s sensitive populations, the children and elderly, or getting serious about cleaning up the San Joaquin Valley’s air for the 21st century,” said Fred Lurmann, one of the authors of the study.
The full report is available on the web at:
http://business.fullerton.edu/centers/iees/reports.htm
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