Saturday, Jul. 05, 2008

Healthy Air program moving into the valley

Alerts abandoned in favor of taking charge

On summer days when smog shrouded the Northern San Joaquin Valley, air quality officials released "Spare the Air" alerts to urge individuals and businesses to take measures to reduce the pollution.

Spare the Air is no more. It has been replaced by the Healthy Air Living program in the eight-county San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District.

Instead of just reacting to bad air days, the new program urges people to do things year-round to clean the air.

The program kicks off Sunday with Healthy Air Living Week in the San Joaquin Valley air basin, with activities planned from Stockton to Bakersfield to showcase what people can do to reduce air pollution.

The district is sponsoring the Modesto Nuts game Sunday night at John Thurman Field. The main event in Modesto will be a bicycle commute on McHenry Avenue between 7 and 9 a.m. Wednesday. People riding their bikes to work can first gather at the Fun Sport Bikes store in McHenry Village shopping center for refreshments and to enter a drawing. They will then ride downtown on McHenry with a police escort.

Also Wednesday, a conference will be held at the University of California at Merced, focusing on the development of electric cars, fuel cells and other clean energy technology.

Air district officials say they nixed Spare the Air because the program focused on one-day pollution episodes and didn't produce the permanent changes in behavior needed to improve air quality.

"It helped to clean the air, but not enough to make a permanent impact," said Anthony Presto, a spokesman for the air district in Modesto. "We want people to realize air pollution is not just a summertime problem. It's an issue throughout the year."

The district is asking people to try suggestions next week that can clean the air, save money, reduce gasoline bills and improve health.

To sweeten the deal, businesses and faith-based organizations that sign a pledge to try clean-air measures can enter their employees or members in a drawing for a new Toyota Prius. Individuals also can sign the pledge cards or enter the drawing by test-driving a hybrid or high-mileage vehicle at a San Joaquin Valley dealership. The deadline for entering is July 31; the winner will be drawn on Aug. 21.

The eight counties in the air basin and 37 cities have issued proclamations recognizing the Healthy Air Living Week and vowing to do their part.

The district is giving businesses more than 30 suggestions for reducing pollution, such as letting employees work 10-hour days four days a week to reduce trips to work, linking employees with car pooling or van pooling, using solar energy or offering telecommuting options.

Some ideas for individuals include switching to electric lawn mowers, not using charcoal barbecues or walking their child to school.

Churches can make a pledge to discuss environmental stewardship during a service or use energy-saving lights in their buildings. Parishioners can take alternative transportation to church.

The district says it also wants to hear about clean-air champions -- an individual, company or organization that makes air quality a priority.

Packets containing the pledge cards, clean-air champion nomination forms and resource booklets have been sent to some of the district's Spare the Air business partners. The materials can be obtained at healthyairliving.com as well.

"There are businesses that are afraid of making long-term commitments to do these things," said Seyed Sadredin, air district executive director. "The idea is, let's try it for a week and see if it works for your business."

Sadredin finds that some businesses are concerned about the legal strings attached to telecommuting or van pooling using vehicles owned by employees. Certain labor laws come into play with telecommuting, so companies are advised to do a safety inspection at the employee's home to ensure it has adequate wiring and ergonomic furniture.

Other legal concerns are addressed in resource booklets the district is giving businesses.

Companies can reduce pollution in other ways.

For example, they might consider moving operations that pollute the air to the early mornings or evenings, so they are not adding to peak-hour pollution.

One of the goals of the Healthy Air Living program is to increase the average vehicle occupancy in the region to 1.4 people per vehicle in five years. Officials believe the current occupancy rate in the region mirrors the statewide average of 1.1 per vehicle.

Although the Spare the Air program is defunct, the district still issues alerts to the public when the air is bad and supports a program to raise colored flags at schools to signify the air quality.

Bee staff writer Ken Carlson can be reached at kcarlson@modbee.com or 578-2321.