Californians took more than 125,000 actions to clear the air in 2023 as part of California Clean Air Day. This year, the seventh annual observance will be held on Wednesday, October 2, 2024. A project of the nonprofit Coalition for Clean Air, Clean Air Day is an opportunity to take the individual pledge to challenge yourself to take actions known to be essential to clean air, “like taking transit, shopping local, installing an air monitor, and much more,” according to Coalition for Clean Air officials. Or “take the organizational pledge to have your employer or school publicly show their support for clean air.”

As the nonprofit notes, our “purchasing habits, driving behaviors and our relationship with food all contribute to whether we have clean air or dirty air in our communities. We can all do our part to change that. California Clean Air Day is built on the idea that shared experiences unite people to act to improve our community’s health. By joining together for a unified day of action, we can create new habits to clear the air for all members of California’s diverse communities.”

Working for Regional Air Quality

Clean Air Day is only one of the many efforts in support of regional clean air. In 1955, the Bay Area Air Pollution Control District became the first regional air pollution control agency in the nation. Now known as the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD), the agency is responsible for regulating stationary sources of air pollution in the nine counties that surround San Francisco Bay: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, southwestern Solano, and southern Sonoma counties. The agency includes more than 340 expert staff members, including engineers, inspectors, planners, scientists, and other professionals.

BAAQMD has created and helps underwrite many air quality programs that directly benefit residents and businesses. The Clean Heating Efficiently with Electric Technology (Clean HEET) Program, for example, “was developed by the Air District to reduce wintertime wood smoke pollution and improve air quality by incentivizing Bay Area homeowners to replace their existing, operational, freestanding wood stoves or wood-burning fireplace inserts with electric heat pumps,” BAAQMD officials explain.

The Clean HEET program, as a whole, has up to $2 million available in funding. Awards to individuals range from $3,000 to $10,500 for one stove or one insert, and $6,000 to $13,500 for two stoves or inserts. The deadline for homeowners to apply for a grant to replace their wood-burning heaters with electric heat pumps is September 24, 2024. All Bay Area homeowners are eligible to apply, according to officials, who say projects located in areas most impacted by air pollution will be prioritized first due to limited funding. The program does not provide reimbursement for work already performed.

The Clean Cars for All program is currently open and accepting applications. Income-qualified Bay Area residents living in qualifying communities can receive grants, startings at $7,000 for retiring an older car and replacing it with a new, less polluting vehicle. If they prefer, they can receive a prepaid card instead to use for public transit or to purchase e-bikes and bike accessories. The Vehicle Buy Back program reduces air pollution by taking the most polluting vehicles off the road. Eligible residents receive $1,500 to scrap operational cars and small trucks dating from 1998 and earlier.

The Spare the Air program warns the public when air quality becomes unhealthy and educates them on ways to reduce air pollution. The Bay Area Healthy Homes Initiative works to improve health outcomes for Contra Costa and Alameda County residents living in the areas most impacted by air pollution from traffic. The Clean Air Center program provides funding for county agencies in the Bay Area to create a network of Clean Air Centers. These centers, often at libraries, schools, and community centers, run air filter systems during periods of poor air quality because of wildfire smoke. The centers allow residents to get a break from wildfire pollution by going to a location with cleaner air.

Tri-Valley Air Quality Climate Alliance Makes Progress

In 2018, Assembly Bill 617 funded the California Air Resources Board Community Air Protection Program to reduce emissions and exposures in communities heavily impacted by air pollution. In the past five years, BAAQMD has used those funds across the district for more than 25 projects, including the Tri-Valley Air Quality Climate Alliance (TVAQCA). The agency funded TVAQCA because every year, its measurements showed that the ozone standard had been exceeded in Livermore, according to Ron Baskett, Chair of the TVAQCA Oversight Committee.

“We would like to think we contributed to 2023 being the first year in history without an ozone exceedance in the Tri-Valley,” he says. “We are on the same path for 2024 as well. With the future focus on environmental justice in low-income communities, TVAQCA will be seeking new nonprofit funding or collaborations to continue by mid-2025.”

The nonprofit’s Oversight Committee has expanded from six to eight people, who meet every other week at the facility belonging to its fiscal sponsor, the Tri-Valley Nonprofit Alliance, in Livermore. TVAQCA continues to offer expertise in air quality and climate sciences and advocate for key local issues. The group supported Pleasanton’s June 2024 ban on gas-powered leaf blowers, for example, while “realizing that full implementation will likely take several years for most contractors to finance,” notes Baskett. It also continues to distribute room air cleaner units to vulnerable and low-income households.

“This past year we offered seven student paid internships, with four from Las Positas Community College,” he says. Each of these has proven to greatly enhance individual careers, with two entering the University of California this fall. One published a scientific journal article on the relationship between Tri-Valley hospital visits and air quality during wildfire events. Another is working to map the extent of cancer risk associated with the largest sources of toxic air contaminants in the Tri-Valley.”

TVAQCA invites Tri-Valley residents to answer an anonymous survey that focuses on transportation and air quality questions. The survey can be taken any time through the end of 2024 at www.docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdzwDInoaFcciFN0j11S4q5x0zVqWZ6YlHal4EgWvUN1qJsSQ/viewform. Taking the survey is one way to support regional air quality, and participating in California Clean Air Day is another. The Tri-Valley has no shortage of organizations and agencies working to improve the region’s air quality and no shortage of ways to support their work by donating, volunteering, or simply sharing the news about programs that help residents breathe easier.

For more information about California Clean Air Day, please visit www.cleanairday.org.

For more information about the Coalition for Clean Air, please visit www.ccair.org.

For more information about the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, please visit www.baaqmd.gov.

For more information about the Clean HEET program, please visit www.baaqmd.gov/en/funding-and-incentives/residents/clean-heet-program.

For more information about the Clean Cars for All program, please visit www.baaqmd.gov/en/funding-and-incentives/residents/clean-cars-for-all/program-overview.