Air District Board Chair Davina Hurt and Executive Officer Dr. Philip Fine, will co-host a live virtual media availability from COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Tuesday, November 19, at 10 AM. The media availability will include a brief overview of the Air District’s goals and insights from the conference as well as time for questions from the media.

The Air District has released a woodsmoke White Paper for public comment, which provides extensive information on wood burning in the Bay Area, the current state of the regulatory landscape for wood-burning devices, and a discussion of potential recommendations to further minimize woodsmoke emissions and exposures.

The Air District and the California Air Resources Board are announcing a nearly $82 million penalty in a joint case to address significant air pollution violations by Valero Refining Co. at its Benicia refinery. This penalty is the largest ever assessed in the Air District’s history.

The Air District is issuing an air quality advisory due to smoke for Friday, October 25 and Saturday, October 26. Smoke from prescribed fires near Pescadero may impact air quality along the Peninsula – south of San Francisco and north of San Jose. Conditions can change rapidly and the amount and location of smoke at ground level is hard to predict.