Air District strengthens permit rules to better protect overburdened communities

Although air quality in the region has improved and cancer risk from pollution has declined drastically since 1990, pollution exposure remains uneven at the local level. The state Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment's recently released CalEnviroScreen 4.0 tool indicates that areas with poor air quality tend to have higher community health vulnerability.

To address these localized health impacts in overburdened communities, Air District staff met with community advocacy organizations to develop potential concepts and hear recommendations on how the permitting process could be more health protective. Through a series of public workshops and a public comment period, Air District staff drafted proposed amendments to Rule 2-1 and Rule 2-5 that will:

• Define overburdened communities
• Set more stringent cancer risk limit in overburdened communities to 6 in 1 million
• Enhance public notifications for projects within overburdened communities
• Update health risk screening guidelines for gasoline dispensing facilities
• Extend permit review timelines

Common sources of toxic air contaminants that may be impacted by these rule amendments are stationary engines, gas stations, soil vapor extraction, crematoria and others. More information regarding Rule 2-1 and Rule 2-5 is available at baaqmd.gov/rules-and-compliance/current-rules. 

View press release(236 Kb PDF, 2 pgs, posted 04/01/2022)( English | Tagalog | Español | 中文 ).