THREAD: Today @AGBecerra announced that his agency is leading a coalition of attorneys general & the city of New York in legally challenging the Trump administration’s decision not to strengthen the current National Ambient Air Quality Standards for particulate matter pollution.

For communities already reeling from the cumulative impacts of pollution in their n'hoods, Trump’s decision is not just a matter of policy, it’s the difference between being able to breathe safe, clean air or live daily with the health challenges created by a polluted environment

In the Inland Empire city of San Bernardino, residents like Jorge Osvaldo Heredia live with the effects of these policies day in and day out: “Most days the air is horrible, especially during the summer months where everything is just a hot blanket of smog,” Heredia told me.

In my latest piece for @grist, I write about a community of San Bernardino activists who are rising up to challenge land use policies that place their lives at risk. (W/photographs by @DAAPhotography: https://bit.ly/3oLbwQa 

“The Inland Empire, probably more than any region in the United States, has disproportionately [borne] the brunt of the environmental and economic impact of goods movement, and Amazon is driving that now in the Inland Empire,” said @JakeWilsonLB

As the logistics/warehouse industry expands further in the Inland Empire, residents are calling for solutions that take their health into account while protecting the environment.

“Do we want a workforce that will continue to be untrained and provided temporary jobs? Or are we really going to move toward a just transition that is going to center an economic recovery with clean energy jobs and also with better protections,” said @eyeofthebarrio

Residents launched a community garden last summer in a spot that Heredia described as the last battleground in the fight against the warehouse industry. “For me being in the garden … it’s like my last hope for what can possibly be here in the community,” said Heredia.

Residents have also taken their case to court. “This case — it’s fundamentally about human health, and it’s really about protecting people in a part of the country that has literally the worst air quality in the nation,” said @AgelidisYasmine

As @AGBecerra points out today in his announcement: particulate matter (PM2.5) is a pollutant emitted from a number of sources such as vehicles, factories, and construction sites. Heredia’s neighborhood is impacted by heavy traffic, the nearby airport, construction and more.

At the current national standards, particulate matter exposure causes up to 45,000 deaths annually nationwide, and disproportionately impacts California’s most vulnerable populations, according to Becerra.

"The Trump Administration's failure to strengthen standards regulating particulate matter is a devastating blow for Californians already facing some of the highest levels of air pollution in the country," Becerra stated in a press release issued today....

..."History books will record unkindly the Trump Administration's callous disregard for their lives and the willful denial of science and the law," stated @AGBecerra "We're determined to make sure this unlawful decision does not survive.”