Really, a modicum of statistics ability ought to be a pre-requisite for jobs like San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District Director of Planning - i.e., being in a position to evaluate our air quality.

Any downtick is not necessarily an improvement. It may well be a random event, or given the size of the data pool, a statistically irrelevant difference. To declare one way or another is not a matter of the imagination, as Nester seems to think in the Californian article, but a matter easily decided by statistical testing.

@SIGH@

so, what next then?  tubes up our rears to quell the methane?.....all along i have said that the air district, CARB and the EPA have NO CLUE what the hell they are doing.

maybe their agenda was to just run businesses out of CA?

The same can be said for the global climate change...or whatever the hell they want to call it now, to shade it from the stupid people from finding out its all a hoax

so when are we going to see these nazi like rules and laws nullified?

funny thing...I have grown up in the southern San Joaquin Valley.  the numerous people I know that did the same dont have any health problems that can be attributed to breathing the air here.  ive thought it all a farce all along

"funny thing...I have grown up in the southern San Joaquin Valley.  the numerous people I know that did the same dont have any health problems that can be attributed to breathing the air here.  ive thought it all a farce all along"

Is brain damage considered to be a health problem, or just a consequence of long term exposure?

learn,

You may have been raised around here but I don't think you have grown up.

funny thing...I have grown up in the southern San Joaquin Valley.  the numerous people I know that did the same dont have any health problems that can be attributed to breathing the air here.  ive thought it all a farce all along

I was born and raised in Bakersfield and have the asthma to prove it. My father was raised here and died at 60. My kids are 7 and 10. The 10 year old is developing breathing problems now. We'll be leaving this pit as soon as we're able. I also personally know several other people who have left Bakersfield because of their children's breathing problems.

You see....the people who can afford to leave do, along with their tax base.

I wondering if regular furnace air filters actually do much. Usually they are not HEPA grade and even if they were they would filter out PM10 particles but not the PM2.5 and the more dangerious ultra fine 0.1 micron ones that traverse lung membranes, enter the bloodstream and circulate throughout the body. But it guess it's better than nothing. Maybe adding an active carbon filter would help catch some of the smaller stuff.

With the right type of cigars and a few hours of puffing, I can get the inside of my house to the same particulate pollution levels of the surrounding city.  Now I call this clean air! *cough*gasp*  Gotta get on my nebulizer...

When I went to grad school and had breathing issues, my doctors up in Sacramento said I have asthma. I move back here after graduating and my pulmonologist down here says "your lungs are fine for Bakersfield". When doctors have to add the "for Bakersfield" qualifier on things.... well, that says a lot.

Fredster, that's why I have three HEPA floor filters spaced strategically throughout the house, including one CPZ (carbon, pot. perm., zeolite) filter for VOCs. Unfortunately the CPZ filter has been discontinued by the manufacturer, but I still have one more replacement CPZ cartridge for it. I also have a 3M Filtrete Micro-Allergen filter on the central AC/heat system that is changed once a month, although I suspect it only helps with the larger particles like dust. I can't say my systems are getting everything, but it's better than nothing. Even my cat with allergies sleeps on or next to the HEPA filter in the living room most of the time.

hmmm  it seems that air quality only affects those of you who  voted for BO..

nice one there donmason and airqualityguy...go on the personal attack...always a losers first choice.  maybe don if your professional photog skills werent as bad as they are, you would be fairing better in this economy, and not have to lash out at others so much

carry on

Since we're going for the snide, political attack approach Learnem.... perhaps the people who voted for Obama are just intelligent enough to realize they need to go see a doctor.

i doubt that....welfare whores arent that smart