Community Air Monitoring in Maywood-Vernon-Bell-East Commerce
Background
Maywood-Vernon-Bell-East Commerce is a highly industrialized, urban community in Los Angeles County within the South Coast Air District that spans 13 square miles (see map below). This community has some of the worst pollution burdens within the State, as the maximum CalEnviroScreen (CES) score is at the 99th-percentile. Residents are exposed to various sources of pollution in the community, including:
- Facilities emitting air toxics
- Traffic
- Lead from housing
- EnviroStor cleanup sites
- Hazardous waste facilities
Residents also suffer from higher rates of asthma, low birth weight, and cardiovascular diseases than most of the State.
Project Purpose/Goal
The goal of this project is to form partnerships with local community members and groups to build community capacity to plan and conduct air quality monitoring in Maywood-Vernon-Bell-East Commerce.
- Community members will guide the process by determining:
- The types of equipment/samplers to purchase
- The air pollutants to monitor for
- Locations of air monitoring
Through previous community engagement, CARB understands that PM2.5, PM10, and air toxics, such as hexavalent chromium, metals, and ethylene oxide are of primary concern to many community residents.
CARB staff from the Monitoring and Laboratory Division (MLD) and the Transportation and Toxics Division (TTD) will engage with interested community groups and community residents to help determine the greatest air pollutants of concern in the Maywood-Vernon-Bell-East Commerce community. CARB and its agency and community partners will work together to involve community members throughout the project. CARB staff will train community members to perform the air monitoring.
Project Budget
Under US EPA’s American Rescue Plan Grant Competition for Enhanced Air Quality Monitoring for Communities, the U.S. EPA awarded a grant to CARB for $250,000 to build community capacity to conduct air monitoring in the communities of Maywood-Vernon-Bell-East Commerce. These funds are budgeted for:
- The purchase of monitoring/sampling equipment and laboratory analysis.
- Stipends to compensate community members for their time, feedback, and direct participation in activities throughout the process.
CARB staff is hosting a community meeting on September 18, 2023. Additional information on the upcoming community meeting can be found below.
Community Meetings
Date, Time & Location | Meeting Purpose/Goal | Materials |
|---|---|---|
July 31, 2024, 5:00-6:30 pm Vernon Village Park Apartments Community Room 4675 E. 52nd Dr | This in-person meeting is about the community-led air monitoring project within the communities of Maywood, Vernon, Bell, and East Commerce. The project will also support building local community capacity for future air monitoring projects within their communities. At this meeting, CARB staff will: provide an update on monitoring for hexavalent chromium and other toxic metals, work with community members to choose air monitoring equipment to purchase, and ask for volunteers to participate on a sub-group to help make technical decisions on monitoring, such as where and when to monitor. | |
September 18, 2023, 5:00-7:00 pm Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics and Allied Workers Union Hall (GMP137) 3725 E Slauson Ave, Maywood, CA 90270 | The meeting will focus on the selection of air pollutants for monitoring. CARB staff will present information on various types of sampling equipment, including which air pollutants can be measured with different samplers, and costs of sampling equipment and analysis. |
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