A blog about Kern County and Health & Wellness.
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Nearby Wildflowers In Bloom (photos) Air District Claims Blatantly False (again) Kern Supervisors Have Secret Stash of over $2 Million Are Ducks Afraid Of Lightning? Illegal Activities By Supervisors? Group Plants 3,600 Trees in Kern County this morning Lies, Damned Lies, and Videotape A Tornado In The Foothills of Kern? Amazing Ear Infection Cure Rio Tinto Loves Kern County November 07 December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 August 08 September 08 October 08 November 08 December 08 January 09 February 09 March 09 April 09 May 09 June 09 July 09 August 09 September 09 October 09 November 09 December 09 January 10 February 10 March 10 
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Wind Wolves Preserve is about 10 miles south of I-5 on Old River Road.
The flowers and landscape scenes were nice last Sunday. They will probably stay that way the rest of the month. Great escape from the milk factories you pass on the way out there. No charge to enter the preserve but weekends only. The video shows the general scene with flowers dancing in the wind against the white clouds and blue sky.
Our beloved Air District officials sent out a valleyair press release this week which claims the air this past winter was even cleaner than the year before. The year before had been attributed, in their public service advertisements this past winter, as being the cleanest winter on record. That claim about the year before has been shown to be false (see earlier post Lies, Damned Lies, and Videotape ). The current claim that this winter was even cleaner is given by the air district as further justification that the fireplace no-burn days are working very well. What they do not mention, for this past winter, is the record number of storms that kept following one another for most of January and February which, coincidentally, produced the cleanest air for those two months since records have been taken. There were no records broken for clean air in November and December. I have to give TBC (www.bakersfield.com/news/local/x99322969/District -says-no-burn-days-improved-air-quality) and Steven Mayer some credit for pointing out that the storms must have had some influence on the cleaner air claims by the air district. Take a look at the graph on the left. This represents our average air quality in December for each of the past nine years. If our air was improving so much, as claimed by the Air District, don't you think some of that improvement would be more apparent in such a simple graph? I chose December because the periods of storms during that month seem to be minimal most years. Grand Jury releases a report which implies the existence of an illegal slush fund.
It is called the Supervisors' Discretionary Fund and amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars per Supervisor. Nice way to give favors and buy votes if you can get away with it. They should have to reimburse the county for every cent they have personally disbursed. Here is the Grand Jury Report which was released this morning: www.co.kern.ca.us/grandjury/early_releases/PDFs/a dmin_bos_discretionary_funds.pdf Key points of the report:
My ducks actually enjoyed the storm last night and today. It helped fill up their pond. The video is just for good, clean fun like the air today. The lightning strike photo and the video were all shot this afternoon.
How do we get an audit like this in Kern County?audit-finds-la-county-supervisors-behindthescenes -effort-to-control-policy.html "A long awaited audit released by Los Angeles County officials found that the Board of Supervisors often use behind-the-scenes levers to control the inner workings of the Regional Planning Department, whose decisions are key to hotly contested battles over development, environmental protections and code enforcement. Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky’s planning deputy, Ben Saltsman, and Supervisor Mike Antonovich’s planning deputy, Paul Novak, fought vigorously behind the scenes during the development of a Green Building ordinance, issuing e-mails to department staffers that “could be interpreted as violating” county rules against supervisors’ directives outside the public meeting process, according to the report, which was obtained by The Times."
It won't be on the news. In fact, it happens every day this time of year. The trees will sequester carbon and clean the air of pollutants, if anyone cares. Hopefully, they will make me some money one day also. Anyway, just a normal but exciting day in the life of a farmer. We planted these this morning and I thought I would record some of the details for those who don't get outside very much. Only about $20,000 in trees and labor and half-a-day's work. Have a look for yourself: www.youtube.com/watch
Local Air District Lies With Immunity
FCC rules about "truth in advertising" do not apply to the government. In their PSA, our local air district, with the help of Supervisor Ray Watson, tells a whopper. Here is an edited version of the ad that has played often on local TV the past couple months: www.youtube.com/watch The lie is the blatant statement by Watson, found also on a local billboard, that "last year was the cleanest winter on record". The truth is, our average particulate levels, which is the only measurement of concern in our winter months of Nov-Feb, when the fireplace bans are in place, were at the highest level of the past 6 years and were second worst for the past 8 years. The graph clearly shows a worsening trend for the past 6 years. The measurements are from the air monitor at the Stockdale and California intersection in Bakersfield. All data is from the CARB web page. The air district, when asked, says their claim is because there were more "good" air days and fewer "unhealthy" air days than ever before up by Tracy and Stockton and that gives an indication of valley air quality improvement. That is nice cherry-picking of the numbers on their part. It makes them look good. But, it does a real disservice to the residents of Kern County who are being pickled in an increasingly concentrated jar of ammonium nitrate and diesel exhaust.
It sure fooled me for a few minutes. After taking this photo I watched the narrow cloud just kind of stay in one place for awhile. Then I realized it was simply the Mt Poso Cogen power plant trying to pollute our clean air on a stormy afternoon. They burn coal and tires out there. I also passed by a dairy which was not well drained. This kind of practice breaks the rules of both the Regional Water Board and the Air District but no one checks. No wonder we get extra nitrates in our drinking water; never mind the antibiotics and hormones.
Prevention is the best medicine. Researchers have discovered a strong link between cleaner air and fewer ear infections in children. www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-10/aaoo-aqi0 92809.php What does it mean for Kern County? Since our winter time particulate problem has not improved at all over the past ten years, it probably means children here are not seeing a decrease in ear infections. Other areas that have seen significant improvements in their air quality are reaping the benefits of happier children, happier parents and less time and money spent on doctors and medicine.
Where else would they get away with this stuff?
Locking out workers at Boron is a dirty business. So is the huge power plant they want to build 7 miles west of Bakersfield. This 250 MW power plant will add hundreds of tons of pollution annually to our overburdened air. The basic proposal is to burn coal and petcoke, all of which will be brought to Kern County from other areas with a couple hundred dirty trucks daily clogging our highways and worsening our air. Both Ray Watson and Harvey Hall welcomed this project with open arms because of the jobs. Rio Tinto and BP are partners in this project called Hydrogen Energy Caifornia. They were kicked out of LA because of environmental concerns so they came up here.
Where does he get his common sense?
In an unheard of spate of common sense proposals this week, President Obama has just done it again! white house press release, Jan 29 WASHINGTON, DC – President Barack Obama today announced that the Federal Government will reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) pollution by 28 percent by 2020. Reducing and reporting GHG pollution, as called for in Executive Order 13514 on Federal Sustainability, will ensure that the Federal Government leads by example in building the clean energy economy. Actions taken under this Executive Order will spur clean energy investments that create new private-sector jobs, drive long-term savings, build local market capacity, and foster innovation and entrepreneurship in clean energy industries. Since these proposed reductions in GHG emissions can all be gotten with efficiency measures plus some solar panels on top of government buildings, this is a really obvious thing to do, both for the economy and for reducing our dependence on foreign oil. Even past Presidents could have done this if they had been smart enough. Should be good for some jobs also so we don't have quite so many homeless on the streets as in this tent city under HWY 41 in Fresno.
I have driven by this dairy many times while traveling the country roads of this great valley. It is the biggest milk factory I have seen between Fresno and Kern County so it may well be the biggest in the world. It has a permit to milk 9,000 cows per day meaning it has around 18,000 animals total. The owner seems to live right on the site. Kind of stupid because I understand the hydrogen sulphide fumes can make you go crazy, they being some kind of nuerological poison. I shot the video over the past year or so and I go by this particular place at least once per month. I always have time to take a few pictures. Warning: a few gross scenes of dead animals
Three little birds in my backyard not bothered one bit by the storm yesterday.
Actually, it never arrived.
These are photos taken today, January 13, of my organic garden. Because of the mild winter, we have not stopped enjoying daily salads and/or boiled greens from this garden since the middle of October. I recently noticed the strawberries are flowering and the apricot buds are pushing out. I hope my peach trees remain dormant until at least the end of the month. It has to be more nutritious and have more depth of flavor.
Michael Pollan claims in his book, In Defense of Food, that an apple grown organically will have better flavor and three times the nutrition value of an apple fed with fossil fuel based fertilizer. Same should be true for wine, I suspect. I didn't care to go wine tasting while traveling through Napa Valley last week until a friend hooked us up with a special tour of this organic place. It was kind of nice, even with the overcast sky. The wine did not disappoint either. It was good stuff.
Clean Renewable Energy
Today's article in TBC about solar energy in Kern County mentions the land issues and difficulty of finding the right piece of land. Oviatt said it takes about six acres covered in solar panels to generate one megawatt of electrical power. "One of the challenges for these projects has been finding the right piece of property," Oviatt said. The county controls 600 acres in the center of Bakersfield that is good for nothing currently but a polluting oil refinery that is bankrupt (Big West). This land should be made available to one of these solar companies to put in 100 MW of solar panels. The environmental review should be a snap. Why shouldn't Bakersfield, with its polluted air, produce most of its electricity in this way? It would have to be a bonus to the local economy. Most of the year Kern residents will experience increased incidence and higher intensity of asthma episodes.
Since we have relatively high ozone and/or particulate matter levels for 80% of the year this study confirms the worse: those who suffer from asthma experience worse symptoms and more emergency room visits during serious pollution episodes. The study, done right here in the San Joaquin Valley, confirms what we already knew, that the costs of our polluted air are great and it is well worth the cost of decreasing this pollution. The study is printed in the current issue of The Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. "...(the) findings suggest that individuals with asthma living in areas of the SJV with high ozone and particulate pollution levels are more likely to have frequent asthma symptoms and asthma-related ED (emergency department) visits and hospitalisations."
Happy Cows Campaign a Bunch of Bull
This is old news but a picture taken a few miles from Bakersfield tells the story. Happy birds, happy sheep, and half a dozen cows (circled) standing in their own waste wondering what all the commotion is about over in the sweet smelling pasture they have never set foot in. The bulk of the pollution from factory dairies is a direct result of not raising these animals in a natural way. Antibiotics are a constant part of the feed because the feed and the conditions the animals are kept in is unhealthy. The public loses. I don't personally lose sleep over the cows but the false advertising from the dairy industry is pretty disgusting. Just messing around on a rainy day since my ongoing outdoor endeavor in food self-sufficiency is temporarily put on hold. (the direct youtube link for media does not seem to be working) Highway Barriers Can Protect Nearby Neighborhoods
If you haven't noticed, we are having severe levels of fine particulates in our Bakersfield air this weekend. One sign is extra mucous in the throat and sinuses as the body reacts against these foreign invaders. Hundreds of studies show the harmful effects of fine particulate matter on human health. Many studies have shown that living very close to freeways can be especially harmful. The effects include respiratory disease, cardiovascular illness and cancer. One study shows strong links between highway pollution and premature births. A study released in October shows that highway sight and sound barriers do prevent some of the particulates from traffic moving directly into nearby neighborhoods. But, it concentrates them at even higher levels on the freeway itself. On a day like today, when particulate levels are already above federal health standards, you don't want to breakdown along the inside of one of those barriers.
CARB Should Not Change or Suspend Diesel RuleDespite Lois Henry's sensationalizing of the idiot at CARB who lied about his credentials the diesel rule is valid and necessary, even in these tough economic times. These rules are always about 5 years behind in their making and implementation. There is no valid reason to delay implementation. The science is not in dispute as there are literally thousands of studies linking particulate exposure and health effects. The improved health benefits from the rule are not in dispute. The gains definitely outweigh the costs. The trucking industry cries that they have to bear the cost alone. Not really, since trucking rates will rise incrementally so we will all pay in order to reap the benefits which will include a net economic gain for society and improved quality of life for millions. I hate to condescend to those who claim the science is in dispute because it so obviously is not, but I will list below, for those interested, just a few of the thousands of studies that are out there. Unfortunately, most of these are in journals and require subscriptions to read so there are no internet links. Maybe a good journalist, like Lois Henry, has access to them at work. Maybe she should start reading a few of them before writing her next article criticizing the diesel rule. The titles alone should be impressive and interesting reading for most people. You can't make this stuff up. I apologize for the lousy formatting in this list.
· EPA, Particulate Matter: Health and Environment, http://www.epa.gov/oar/part...
· U.S. EPA, National Center for Environmental Assessment, Office of Research and Development, Health Assessment Document for Diesel Engine Exhaust (2002)
· National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, “Carcinogenic Effects of Exposure to Diesel Exhaust,” Current Intelligence Bulletin 50 (August 1988), available at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/88...
· International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Diesel and Gasoline Engine Exhausts and Some Nitroarenes. IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans, no. 46 (Lyons: World Health Organization, 1989), pp. 41–185 · Health Effects Institute, Diesel Exhaust: A Critical Analysis of Emissions, Exposure and Health Effects (Cambridge, MA: Health Effects Institute, 1995) http://www.healtheffects.or... · International Programme on Chemical Safety, World Health Organization, “Diesel Fuel and Exhaust Emissions,” Environmental Health Criteria 171 (1996)
· Vineis P, Husgafvel-Pursiainen K. (2005) Air pollution and cancer: biomarker studies in human populations. Carcinogenesis. 26:1846-1855 · Rybicki BA, Neslund-Dudas C, Nock NL, Schultz LR, Eklund L, Rosbolt J, Bock CH, Monaghan KG. (2006) Prostate cancer risk from occupational exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons interacting with the GSTP1 Ile105Val polymorphism. Cancer Detect Prev. 30:412-422 · Gammon MD, Santella RM, Neugut AI, Eng SM, Teitelbaum SL, Paykin A, Levin B, Terry MB, Young TL, Wang LW, Wang Q, Britton JA, Wolff MS, Stellman SD, Hatch M, Kabat GC, Senie R, Garbowski G, Maffeo C, Montalvan P, Berkowitz G, Kemeny M, Citron M, Schnabel F, Schuss A, Hajdu S, Vinceguerra V. (2002) Environmental toxins and breast cancer on Long Island. I. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon DNA adducts. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 11:677-685 · Bonner MR, Han D, Nie J, Rogerson P, Vena JE, Muti P, Trevisan M, Edge SB, Freudenheim JL. (2005) Breast cancer risk and exposure in early life to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons using total suspended particulates as a proxy measure. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 14:53-60 · Brody JG, Moysich KB, Humblet O, Attfield KR, Beehler GP, Rudel RA. (2007) Environmental pollutants and breast cancer: epidemiologic studies. Cancer. 109:2667-2771 · New York University, Press Release, “Most Definitive Study Yet Shows Tiny Particles in Air Are Linked to Lung Cancer,” March 5, 2002; Pope. C.A., Burnett, R.T., Thun, M.J, Calle, E.E., Krewski, D., Ito, Kaz, and Thurston, G.D., Lung Cancer, Cardiopulmonary Mortality, and Long Term Exposure to Fine Particulate Air Pollution, Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 287, (2002), p. 1132-1141 · Jerrett M. (2007) Does traffic-related air pollution contribute to respiratory disease formation in children? Europ. Resp. Journal. 29:825-826 · Peden DB. (2002) Pollutants and asthma: role of air toxics. Environ. Health Perspect. 110:565-568 · Delfino RJ. (2002) Epidemiologic evidence for asthma and exposure to air toxics: linkages between occupational, indoor, and community air pollution research. 110:573-589 · Schlesinger RB, Kunzli N, Hidy GM, Gotschi T, Jerrett M. (2006) The health relevance of ambient particulate matter characteristics: coherence of toxicological and epidemiological inferences. Inhal. Toxicol. 18:95-125 · Cohen, A.J. and Nikula K., The Health Effects of Diesel Exhaust, in Air Pollution and Health, 1999, Holgate, S., Samet J., Koren, H. and Maynard, R., eds · Abt Associates (December 2004) Diesel Particulate Matter Related Health Damages. http://www.catf.us/projects...
· Brauer, M et al. (2002). Air pollution from traffic and the development of respiratory infections and asthmatic and allergic symptoms in children. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, v. 166, p. 1092-1098 · Brown, J., and Frew, A. (2002). Diesel exhaust particles and respiratory allergy. European Respiratory Mon. v. 21, p. 180-192 · Nemmar, A., Hoet, P., Dinsdale, D.,Vermylen, J., Hoylaerts,M., and Nemery, B., Diesel Exhaust Particles in Lung Acutely Enhance Experimental Peripheral Thrombosis, Circulation. Vol. 107, (2003), pp.1202-1208 · Yamazaki, S, Nitta, H., Ono, M., Green, J., Fukuhara, S. (2006) Intracerebral hemmorrage associated with hourly concentration of ambient particulate matter: case-crossover analysis. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine September 2006 · Pope · Krewski, D., Burnett, R.T., Goldberg, M.S., Hoover, K., Siemiatycki, J., Jerrett, M., Abrahamowicz, A. and White, W.H., Reanalysis of the Harvard Six Cities Study and the American Cancer Society Study of Particulate Matter and Mortality; Special Report to the Health Effects Institute, Cambridge, MA (July 2000) · Samet, J.M., Dominici, F., Zeger, S.L., Schwartz, J. and Dockery, D.W.; National Morbidity, Mortality and Air Pollution Study, Part II: Morbidity, Mortality and Air Pollution in the
· Dockery, D.W., · Laden F, Schwartz J, Speizer FE, Dockery DW. (2006) Reduction in fine particulate air pollution and mortality extended follow-up of the Harvard Six Cities Study. Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. 173:667–672 · Gauderman WJ, Vora H, McConnell R, Berhane K, Gilliland F, Thomas D, Lurmann F, Avol E, Kunzli N, Jerrett M, Peters J. (2007) Eff ect of exposure to traffic on lung development from 10 · Brauer M, Hoek G, Smit HA, de Jongste JC, Gerritsen1 J, Postmae DS, Kerkhof M, Brunekreef B. (2007) Air pollution and development of asthma, allergy and infections in a birth cohort. Eur. Resp. J. 29: 879–888 · Lipsett, M., Campleman, S., (1999). Occupational exposure to diesel exhaust and lung cancer: a meta-analysis. American Journal of Public Health v. 89, no 7, p. 1009-1017
· Garshick, E., Laden, F., Hart, J., Rosner, B., Smith T., Dockery, D. And Spiezer, F. (2004). Lung cancer in railroad workers exposed to diesel exhaust. Environmental Health Perspectives, v. 122, no. 15, November, 2004 · Garshick, E., Schenker, M, Munoz, A., Segal, M., Smith, T., Woskie, S., · Boffetta, P., Silverman, D.T. (2001). A meta-analysis of bladder cancer and diesel exhaust exposure. Epidemiology. January 2001, v.12. no. 1.,p. 125-130 · Goldberg, M., Parent, M., Siemiatycki, J, Desy, M., Nadon, M., Richardson, L., Lakhani, R., Latreille, B., and Valois, M. (2001) A case-control study of the relationship between the risk of colon cancer in men and exposures to occupational agents. American Journal of Industrial Medicine, v. 39, p. 531-546 · Riediker, M., Cascia, W., Griggs, T., Herbst, M.m Bromberg, P., Neas, L., Williams, R., and Devlin, R. (2004). Particulate matter exposure in cars is associated with cardiovascular effects in healthy young men. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, v. 169, p. 934-940 · Kilburn, K.H. (2000). Effects of diesel exhaust on neurobehavioral and pulmonary functions. Archives of Environmental Health, v. 55, no. 1, p. 11-17 · Steenland, K. Deddens, J., Stayner, L. (1998). Diesel exhaust and lung cancer in the trucking industry: exposure-response analyses and risk assessment. American Journal of Industrial Medicine, v. 43, no. 3, p. 220-228 · Laden, F., Hart, J., Smith, T.,
Dairies may benefit from clean air rules
The article in the Californian this morning should read "Dairies may benefit from cap and trade or greenhouse gas reduction rules". The article has nothing to do with clean air rules. There is a big difference between air pollution emissions from dairies and green house gas emissions. The methane from a dairy is not part of our air pollution problem. The stuff they are not cleaning up like the ammonia and several kinds of volatile organic compounds listed by EPA as criteria air pollutants. This same misconception applies to renewable energy. Advocates of increased biomass incinerators here in the valley claim they are clean energy systems. Nothing is farther from the truth. They are classified as renewable energy because they burn carbon that was produced in the last 50 years in constrast to the carbon from fossil fuel. These biomass incinerators pollute our air worse than coal burners. We should never assume that a technology that reduces green house gas emissions is something that will also clean our air. In the case of photovoltaic panels that is true. With methane digestors and biomass incinerators, it is not even close.
Have you had any gunk dripping down your throat the past couple days? Not surprising. We basically had the worst fine particulate levels of the season yesterday in Kern County. We were close to twice the federal health standard for pm 2.5 yesterday and it will be worse today. What causes it? Diesel soot is part of the problem despite Lois Henry denials. Another large part of the problem, that has gotten worse in recent years, is the mixture of ammonia from dairies and NOx from cars and trucks. This mixture forms ammonium nitrate during the cooler hours of our day during the winter. NOx has gone down because of fleet turnover giving us cleaner vehicles. But, ammonia is double what it used to be a few years ago with the doubling of the local dairy industry. This has to be the main reason our pm 2.5 levels have not been decreasing as predicted by our air district. The gains from the fireplace ban and the conversion of diesel irrigation engines to electricity has been more than offset by our Supervisors' open invitation to hundreds of thousands of cows the past dozen years to take up residence in our county. On a related note, Ray Watson has the nerve to say that last winter we had the cleanest air on record. He says this during a public service ad paid for by the air district. I hereby call him a liar although he probably doesn't have a clue what the carefully selected conditions were for that conclusion which he read for the camera. The fact is last winter was one of the worst winters for average levels of pm 2.5 over the past eight years according to the Bakersfield monitor.
Is Kern County going to defend itself?
It will cost them some money because there are plenty of faults with the environmental documents. Maybe the county approved this to appease Tejon Ranch (who paid off everyone who could be bought) but know the courts will throw it out. In any case, it will cost the county and Tejon Ranch some serious dollars and a lot of time to straighten this thing out with the Judge. Then the Supervisors will get to show their loyalty to the money people and approve it again. This time around there will be even more overwhelming evidence against the project. The lawsuit was filed today in Bakersfield court according to my sources.
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