California has the dirtiest air in the country, and two regions of the state, the Los Angeles basin and the San Joaquin Valley, account for the highest levels of pollution.
An estimated 3,860 residents of those regions will die prematurely because of tiny soot particles and smog they breathe. In addition to the human toll, the cost of dirty air to families, hospitals and businesses in those regions totals $28 billion annually.
Those are the latest sobering findings of a new air pollution study just released by Jane Hall and Victor Brajer, economics professors at California State University, Fullerton. Their study concludes that dirty air costs San Joaquin valley residents $1,600 per person per year. Costs in the Los Angeles region are pegged at $1,250 per person.
The costs are not confined to those regions. When people suffering from air pollution-related illnesses are hospitalized in Los Angeles or Tulare County, it drives up health insurance premiums for residents elsewhere in the state.
The newest air study comes just as the California Air Resources Board is poised to vote on landmark regulations designed to reduce emissions from heavy-duty diesel trucks. If adopted, the rules would require truck owners to install exhaust filters on their rigs starting in 2010. The rules also would require long-haul truckers to equip their vehicles with fuel-efficient tires and aerodynamic devices that lower greenhouse gas emissions and improve fuel economy.
The new rules will cost an estimated $5.5 billion over 15 years, beginning in 2010 when the rules kick in. The state has provided $1 billion in loans and grants to help pay for the pollution fixes. Still, the economic benefits of the new rules – amounting to $48 billion to $68 billion over that same 15 years the rules are in place, mostly in avoided health care – far exceed the costs.
The Fullerton professors' study validates what the Air Resources Board's diesel truck research has shown. The cost of doing nothing is unacceptable.
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