California Air Resources Board

Principal Investigator/Author: Rachel Morello-Frosch

Contractor: University of California, Berkeley

Contract Number: 17RD035

Project Status: Completed

Relevant CARB Programs: Health and Exposure

Topic Areas: Environmental Justice, Health Effects of Air Pollution, Sustainable Communities, Toxic Air Contaminants, Community Health

Research Summary:

In 2015, the California legislature passed Senate Bill (SB) 673, and in 2017, Assembly Bill (AB) 617 was passed. Both laws aim to improve environmental regulation to better protect community health by more systematically integrating cumulative impacts into regulatory enforcement activities and programs at the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). SB 673 requires DTSC to incorporate criteria used for the issuance of a hazardous waste facility permit that address the vulnerability of, and existing health risks to, nearby populations. AB 617 requires CARB to develop a monitoring plan for criteria air pollutants and toxic air contaminants and, as part of this process, develop an approach to prioritize locations for the deployment of community monitoring systems.

Because both AB 617 and SB 673 require developing methods for assessing cumulative impactsand integrated indicators of community vulnerability for the implementation of regulatory programs and community monitoring, CARB and DTSC seek expertise to: support efforts to engage community stakeholders; provide feedback on concept papers and technical support for stakeholder workshops; assistance in building community capacity for air quality monitoring and evaluation of community monitoring and community emissions reduction programs; and analytical support to identify appropriate datasets and to develop novel indicators that can be integrated into existing cumulative impacts screening approaches such as Cal-EnviroScreen (CES). Accordingly, the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), in collaboration with the University of California, Davis (UCD) and the California Environmental Health Tracking Program (Tracking California), proposed the 24-month project and scope of work for this contract.

Keywords: Senate Bill  673 (SB 673), Senate Bill 617 (SB 617), community health, cumulative impacts, community vulnerability, air pollutants, toxic air contaminants, monitoring, emissions reductions, CalEnviroScreen (CES), environmental justice