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https://reasonstobecheerful.world/calenviroscreen-california-map-stops-pollution/>
"John Faust, who built the CalEnviroScreen, has a unique perspective on
California. On his computer, he pulls up a map of the state. On the left and
right, along the Pacific Ocean and mountains, are various shades of green.
Between these is a cluster of orange and red patches: the state’s industrial
and agricultural areas, with their dusty sunbaked plains, warehouses and
refineries.
A toxicologist by training, Faust helped develop the CalEnviroScreen over the
last two decades and now manages it for the California Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA). He is also chief of the Community and Environmental Epidemiology
Research branch of the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment
(OEHHA). But these bureaucratic titles threaten to obscure the groundbreaking
impact of his research: The 25 percent of census tracts with the worst CES
scores must receive at least 35 percent of the investments funded by
California’s cap-and-trade program. This enormous pot of money – some $20
billion – comes from polluters who must reduce or offset their emissions by
paying into the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. It is used to finance a wide
array of environmentally beneficial investments for the most polluted
communities across California — everything from agricultural worker van pools
to electric school buses to community air grants. In addition, CES data is
increasingly being used in lawsuits — some of them propelled by the state’s
attorney general — to block projects that would add even more pollution to
communities already burdened with it."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
