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Become a Clean Air Advocate! |
How to contact the BAAQMD:
Here are the different ways which you can take action against pollution: MAKE AN AIR QUALITY COMPLAINT
All this information is confidential. The complaint information will be given to an inspector assigned to your area. After investigating, the District Inspectors will prepare a written report for each complaint investigation. This information is entered into the Air District’s data bank, where a record is maintained. If the District receives many complaints about a particular plant or facility, they may decide that the facility is creating a public nuisance. When a public nuisance or other violation of state, federal or District rules and regulations occurs, an inspector is authorized to issue a Notice of Violation to the responsible person or company. If a person or company gets more than three Notices of Violations within a year for the same offense, the District staff may attempt to resolve the matter without taking formal legal action. Sometimes a facility will have a significant accidental release of air pollutants. Once BAAQMD has the right information about the incident, their staff prepares an incident report. These reports are then available to the public and can be downloaded from the BAAQMD web site by following these directions:
VEHICLE POLLUTION PROGRAMS
BAAQMD's exhaust program is available in San Francisco Bay Area counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Sonoma and the southwestern portion of Solano county. To report a smoking vehicle call 1-800-EXHAUST (394.2877). You will need to provide the following information:
Vehicle Buy Back Program For more information on this program, go to http://www.baaqmd.gov/planning/plntrns/buyback/vhbybck2.htm. SPARE THE AIR PROGRAM
On Spare the Air days, some things you can do to help reduce smog and stay well include remaining indoors or driving less. To find out if it’s a Spare The Air day, listen to your local radio or television weather report or call 1-800-HELP-AIR (435.7247) for daily recorded smog forecasts. You can also check out the Spare the Air web site www.sparetheair.org. On the web site you can register for email notifications of Spare the Air days. SUPPORT 20/20 VISION California locales once again ranked tops in the list of most ozone -polluted metropolitan areas and counties for the third straight year, according to the American Lung Association's report "State of the Air 2002." Serious health consequences, especially in children and the elderly are associated with exposure to high levels of pollution. The most significant threat to health comes from particulate matter (PM) pollution. Particulate matter originates from a variety of sources, but the largest sources by far are the burning of coal in power plants and vehicle exhaust. California's standards for particulate matter are over 20 years old and are in desperate need of reform! The staff of the California Air Resources Board has recently proposed strengthened air quality standards for PM10 and new standards for PM2.5 (the difference is in particle size) that have the potential to save lives and improve the health of thousands of Californians. PM2.5 have been shown too be the most dangerous to public health because its smaller dimensions allows the particles to travel deeper in the lungs. The proposed standards for PM10 and PM2.5 are far more stringent then those established by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1997. The California standards have important national health implications because of the ongoing EPA review of national PM standards. If adopted nationally, these standards would result in a reduction of an estimated 6,500 cases of premature death per year, and reduce annual hospitalizations by an estimated 1,200 for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 960 for asthma and 3,100 for cardiovascular disease. Strong support for the adoption of the proposed CA standards is urgently needed, particularly since we are anticipating heavy industry opposition. Please write California Air Board Chair Allan Lloyd and tell him that the Board must protect public health by approving California's proposed standards for PM10 and PM2.5. Comments must be submitted by June 19, 2002. Address Comments to: Back to Get Involved |
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Questions? - Phone: 415.342.0042 - Email: jburcham@ocefoundation.org - © Copyright 2007 OCE |
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If you smell a strong odor or see a lot of smoke in your neighborhood, you can report it to BAAQMD. Call this 24-hour-a-day number 1-800-334-ODOR (6367), as soon as you notice the odor or smoke. Because some chemicals can be identified by their odor, try to describe the smell with something familiar. For example, did it smell like burning plastic, rotten eggs, spoiled cabbage, chlorine, or asphalt? Is the odor lingering, or on and off? You will also need to tell them where you think the odor is coming from, and your name, address and telephone number.
BAAQMD has a voluntary program for reporting vehicles with smoking exhaust. The program's purpose is to inform the public that smoking vehicles contribute 20 to 30% of the soot and particles in the air, and that particulate matter is harmful to health. A major part of the program is letting people know that keeping motor vehicles in good repair can prevent smoking vehicles. Smoking vehicles cause 10 to 15 times more pollution than well-tuned vehicles.
BAAQMD’s Spare the Air program lets people know when the smog level on summer days is unhealthy. On those days, there are different things you can do to protect yourself and your family from air pollution or reduce your contribution to the smog level. For children and people with respiratory problems, it is very important to know if it’s a Spare the Air day to avoid exposure toincreased levels of air pollution.