County air pollution group gets go-ahead on proposal

SAN DIEGO - The San Diego County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday, May 22 took the first steps toward putting a plan in place to reduce toxic air pollution.

The board voted unanimously to direct the county Air Pollution Control District to study the current toxic air pollutant threshold and return with a proposed rule no later than April 2020 for possible approval.

According to the proposal sponsored by Supervisor Nathan Fletcher, the APCD will also work with industry and community partners.

Fletcher said the county has an opportunity to set a new standard, "and go further in protecting the public health of our residents.''

"I think it's unfortunate that we measure the severity of toxic materials based on how many people will be exposed to cancers,'' Fletcher said, adding the county has the least amount of protections in place.

As of now, the county has an air pollution threshold that's 10 times the average, while other regional governments have better standards, Fletcher said.

According to Fletcher's office, the county has an allowable threshold for toxic hot spots of 100 cancers per million people.

During the meeting, representatives from Climate Action and the Port of San Diego spoke in favor stricter air quality standards.