The Valley Air District has welcomed its newest Governing Board member, Dr. Tania Pacheco-Werner, co-Assistant Director at Fresno State’s Central Valley Health Policy Institute. Pacheco-Werner was appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to fill the Board’s vacant science position. The Sanger native has a PhD in sociology from the University of California, San Francisco.

The District’s Governing Board provides leadership and direction of air pollution control measures and is comprised of 15 members: eight county supervisors (one from each of the Valley’s eight counties), five city council members selected by the cities within the District, and two public members appointed by the Governor. The board ensures that implementation of state and federal air pollution mandates in the Valley is tailored to local conditions and responsive to local needs.

Also, the Valley Air District is in the process of prioritizing communities for its recommendation to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to select a community that will benefit in Year 3 from AB 617.

Assembly Bill 617, passed by the state legislature in 2017, is designed to address potentially high cumulative exposure to criteria pollutants in California’s most challenged communities. The CARB selected South Central Fresno and Shafter for its first year in 2018 and Stockton in 2019.

Through a public engagement process, CARB and air districts must develop and implement Community Air Monitoring Plans (CAMP) and Community Emission Reduction Programs (CERP) that are specific to the identified communities.

The District will make its recommendation to CARB on Sept. 17, based on the following methodology: CalEnviroScreen scores; equitable distribution of AB 617 efforts across diverse community types (urban and rural); community support through self-nominations to CARB and District; community’s capacity and interest to participate and engage in air quality activities.

For more information on AB 617, visit: http://community.valleyair.org/community-identification.