Industrial company near a school

[california owne]

What is the name of your state? California.

There is an industrial company near an elementry school my mom works at. It's less than 2 blocks away. My mom found out the neighbors have been fighting to get the company shut down for years. We learned that the chemicals they use are carciogenic. The AQMD is doing NOTHING, they will not give the company a violation or check it out unless there are six callers (a day). At a hearing earlier this month month, the AQMD was against the industrial company. The AQMD did not have many facts straight and at the begining of the second day of the hearing a board member said out loud "I am angry that the prosecutor (for the AQMD) approached me after the hearing yesterday asking me to go easy on the (industrial company)." So, we believe the AQMD is being paid off. They have programs like pollution trading and give out emission credits allowing big companies to 'buy' credits which allow them to pollute the area. The defense attorny told a witness that even if a hearing board agreed to shut down the company, they would go to a judge to have it overruled and a judge would have to do it since the AQMD hasn't given out any violations.

There will be a hearing in a couple of weeks at the chamber of commerce. My mother (and other people) are afraid to speak up because these industrial workers have become very angry about maybe losing their jobs. Who knows what could happen. A reporter wrote an article about it in a local paper and she said she has received a lot of phone calls from the workers angry about her story.

Does anyone know who is above the AQMD? I tried to call the department of health services in California and the person got really quiet when I mentioned pollution trading credits.

I checked this site, [url]http://www.arb.ca.gov/app/emsinv/facinfo/facinfo.php[/url]

Does anyone know of anywhere else online I can find data to use againt the company at the meeting. I don't think just words are going to work. The AQMD isn't doing anything and I learned the AQMD was sued in 2003 over their pollution trading system. So something is wrong here.

[url]http://www.ocefoundation.org/press-092903_2.html[/url]

[seniorjudge]

What is AQMD?

[badapple40]

There are citizen suit provisions under the federal Clean Air Act, which might well be violated... you can enforce it if the state/local government fails to.

There are plaintiffs attorneys who bring suits for community groups.

[alligatorob]

Your post is pretty short on facts, what I can glean is:

1 The company uses carcinogenic chemicals. That won’t do you much good, lots of things are carcinogenic and so long as they are used properly it is no big deal. For example the gas tank of your car is full of benzene containing gasoline, highly carcinogenic. You need some evidence of illegal release and exposure.

2 The company has no AQMD (Air Quality Management District) violations. Sounds good for the company, from my experience the California AQMDs are pretty diligent about issuing NOVs (notice of violations) when there is a problem.

I believe the California AQMD’s are under the State Air Resources Board, but are also regulated by the US EPA. If you want to go over their heads go there, the Department of Health Services probably doesn’t know anything about “pollution trading credits”. These agencies do try and work with concerned citizens but the more real facts you have the easier it will be for you.

FYI, I really doubt that “the AQMD is being paid off”, realize their job is to enforce regulations first, but they also have some obligation to keep industry working and keep the economy going as safely and cleanly as possible. They only shut industry down as a last resort.