San Bernardino, Muscoy

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Overview

The community of San Bernardino and Muscoy is located in the Inland Empire in the SCAQMD. The community is impacted by railyards and freight activities associated with warehouses. The San Bernardino and Muscoy community has a high cumulative air pollution exposure burden, a significant number of sensitive receptors, and includes census tracts that have been designated as disadvantaged communities. The SCAQMD’s past efforts in the community such as a Clean Communities Plan and air monitoring through the MATES program provide the necessary foundation for an emissions reduction program, and additional air monitoring will provide more localized information within the community and help track implementation of the emissions reduction program.

The community of San Bernardino and Muscoy is 31 square miles with a population of approximately 152,000. The community is bisected by several major freeways including Highways 215 and 210, and Interstate 10. There are 6 rail yards and clusters of warehouses throughout the community. The sensitive receptors in the area include 68 schools, 38 licensed daycare facilities, and 11 hospitals. The community has high poverty and unemployment burdens, as well as high impacts related to asthma and cardiovascular disease, furthermore in some portions of the community there are schools in close proximity to air pollution sources.

Community Boundary

Image displaying San Bernardino, Muscoy's AB 617 community boundaries

San Bernardino, Muscoy's AB 617 community boundary files

Community Air Monitoring

In 2018, the Community was nominated by the District and selected by CARB as a monitoring community. The District published the AB 617 Community Air Monitoring Plan For the San Bernardino, Muscoy Community in April 2019.

The Community Air Monitoring Plan identifies areas of interest for AB 617 monitoring such as stationary and mobile sources, monitoring site locations, sampling schedules, and types of equipment and strategies. The plan was designed to obtain detailed air pollution levels through the Community, determine areas in the community of highest risk, quantify sources of air pollution within the community, and to position the Community to develop emissions reduction strategies and monitor the effectiveness of those strategies.

CARB and the District have historically implemented air monitoring which includes regulatory monitoring in San Bernardino County. The AB 617 community air monitoring plan is specifically designed with the community steering committee input to measure and collect localized and elevated air pollution levels data. The District considered health statistics, air quality concerns from residents in multiple communities, as well as screening tools that combine environmental, health, and socio-economic information to calculate community-wide risk factors in the planning and implementation of community air monitoring. Community-level expertise through steering committee meetings and input from a broad range of stakeholders supported the District's development of this plan.

The collection of comprehensive air quality data is essential to develop emissions reduction plans and strategies. The monitoring data is being provided to CARB and is available on AQView where monitoring data from other AB 617 community air monitoring plans are also included.

Community Emissions Reduction Program

South Coast AQMD convened a community steering committee to develop the Community Emissions Reduction Plan: San Bernardino, Muscoy. The community steering committee has 33 primary members and held 10 meetings between October 2018 and October 2019. South Coast AQMD also hosted a workshop to get the broader public’s feedback on the Plan in July 2019. The Plan focuses on reducing exposure to diesel particulate matter (DPM) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) from sources such as neighborhood truck traffic, warehouses, the OmniTrans bus yard, railyards, and concrete batch, asphalt, and aggregate plants, along with actions to reduce exposure to air pollution at schools and daycare centers, with 21 actions.

Community Engagement

Image of the San Bernardino, Muscoy Community Steering Committee meeting

Community engagement is a key part of the AB 617 program. Air districts are responsible for convening a community steering committee using an open and transparent nomination process. Community steering committees create new, and foster existing, local partnerships which drive the AB 617 program. In this advisory role, community steering committees oversee the development and implementation of the program such as in community identification, community air monitoring, and community emissions reduction programs. The steering committee aims to identify metrics, track progress, solicit, and share information with the San Bernardino, Muscoy community. The current Community Steering Committee was selected representing a diverse range of community viewpoints. This broad range of stakeholders also forms a collaborative AB 617 Technical Advisory Group, which provides input to South Coast AQMD staff on technical details related to source attribution, air monitoring and other technical analysis needed to develop air monitoring plans and Community Emissions Reduction Plans for AB 617 implementation.

The current Community Steering Committee charter describes the San Bernardino, Muscoy Community Steering Committee membership process, how meetings are conducted, and how information is made available to its members and the public.

Annual Implementation Progress

Annual progress reports are completed by the District. Qualitative and quantitative progress assessments as well as status updates from interim milestones identified by the CARB Governing Board are available in the annual progress report and accompanying metric workbooks. A detailed update for each strategy can also be found here as it is made available.

Additional Resources