Coleman & Horowitt LLP partner Lee N. Smith is participating in AB 617 South Fresno Steering Committee.
In mid-December and January dozens of residents, business representatives and other community members attended the first meeting of the South Central Fresno Steering Committee as part of AB 617
Assembly Bill (“AB”) 617 (C. Garcia, Chapter 136, Statutes of 2017) was approved by the California legislature in 2017, in conjunction with AB 398, which was an extension of the Greenhouse Gas Cap & Trade program, in an effort to engender support from the diverse parties in the air quality arena. AB 617 in summary requires the California Air Resources Board (“CARB”) to develop a Community Air Protection Program for the state, and then select, based on the plan, the highest priority locations to deploy community air monitoring systems. The Program’s focus is to reduce exposure in communities most impacted by air pollution. Once the communities and relevant emissions are identified and a local steering committee appointed, specific options for monitoring and subsequent control measures are to be proposed. From the outset there has been a concern with the potential for fence line monitoring of sources as well as the use of low cost personal monitors by community groups.
The third meeting of the South Fresno Steering Committee will be in Mid-February