The farmers and the pollution they either directly (pollution from cows, plants, and pesticides) or indirectly (big rigs and other machinery) cause rule this valley. Breathing quality air comes in a distant second to the $$$ made by the farmers and the bureaucrats they support. Money has, and always will, win out over the health concerns of the average citizen.

Thanks for the charts! The Air District is just another toothless bureaucratic group that gets paid to have their message ignored. The penalties of failure are decreased revenues from the state and feds. The people who pollute could care less. The elected guys who govern here get their money from the polluters to run and keep their offices. Special interest money is always preffered over federal and state grant money, because SI money goes directly to the politicians. Money and improvements for working people is off the priority schedule.

You can see this play itself out everyday in the news with the tremendous increases in bacterial infections  from airborne pathogens.  There is virtually no government oversight into the processing and slaughterhouse world. When was the last time you read about the FDA making a bust before disease infected a bunch of people. It just does not happen. It is getting to the point right now that our government has to bully other nations into importing our damaged and diseased livestock. We have bovine tuberculosis just a hundred miles north of Bakersfield, and our government elects not to tell us which dairy and/or cattle ranch is involved. Is this for protection of the citizens, or just more protection for big money interests at the citizens' expense?

I think most people get the idea  who our government prefers to protect.