My science teacher in high school mentioned to me one day that he “had been able to see the mountains on both sides of the valley” in years previous before the air quality had become bad in his opinion. This was 25 years ago. Now you’re lucky to be able to see some of the Sierra range on a good day from Visalia, which isn’t that far away. Things have gotten much worse there in a fairly short amount of time, relatively speaking.

In the housing and building frenzy of the past several years, many large production dairies have relocated to the San Joaquin Valley from pricier regions like LA, adding to the number that were already there. This isn’t helping matters, nor is the increased number of vehicles and traffic along the highways in recent years with the increase in population and housing. Burning regulations have been put into place. Several groups are pointing fingers at each other while things continue to get worse.

Most people don’t realize how much of our food and produce comes from the SJV. It really is amazing what can be grown there. I find it more than a little scary to think what the future may hold for that area if the problems there continue to grow at the rate they have been.

It would be interesting to see the above figures overlaid with population densities in the other cities. Pittsburg doesn’t even rank in the 50 largest cities in the US, yet is #1 in pollution. Doesn’t that say something?

*idiots*

So the state of California bought that piece of crap for 1000.00 from me so I wouldn’t have it on the streets anymore.. Only rule, car gots to run and can’t pass smog.
now that was pretty sweet.

Anybody who lived in L.A. 25 years ago can attest to the kind pollution it had. What’s remarkable today is that there’s less pollution, more population and automobiles than ever, and continuing high and diverse levels of industry.

The Central Valley areas (Bakersfield, Fresno, Porterville, Visalia, etc) seem to suffer from high levels of things like plain old dust from agriculture. Not to mention the more obnoxious like animal wastes, fertilizer runoff and such. In addition, there’s also significant oil pumping/drilling/refining in the area. Geography makes all those things worse.

No wonder I can’t breathe well. T_T
I knew it was bad, but geez. And it gets HOT here, too. Hello sweltering heat and lack of usable oxygen!

“Toyota, General Motors and seven other automakers filed suit on Tuesday to block California’s new greenhouse gas regulation, which was approved by the state in its final form in September.”

…but other interests are successful in shutting us down.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Killed_the_Electric_Car%3F

I think MightyCow has a good point: the particular geography of these areas may contribute to their high level of pollution.

I’m not clear, however, why agriculture is a bad polluter - I thought that manufacturing would be the main culprit.

1. The economy of California is a dominant force in the economy of the United States, with California paying more to the federal system than it receives in direct monetary benefits

2. California is the world’s fifth largest supplier of food and agriculture commodities.

3. California is responsible for 13% of the United States’ gross domestic product (more than any other single state).

4. California has between the 7th and 10th largest economy IN THE WORLD.

It’s no wonder California struggles with pollution and why we’re at the forefront of trying to decrease it not only in our state, but across the nation.

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_California

The reason the air is so bad here is because the San Joaquin Valley is bounded by the Sierra Nevada on the east and the El Diablos on the west, and they meet in the south, basically forming a very deep basin that is the world’s largest valley. When the valley floor heats up an inversion layer forms and the air that’s here is trapped. It’s not that we’re creating more pollution than the rest of you, it’s that your pollution is spread to the rest of the world while we have to live in our own filth.