WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the western United States faces a record breaking and historic heatwave, and as multiple wildfires actively burn across the state, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, today questioned witnesses on the impacts of wildfire smoke in California and across the country and reiterated the need to ensure Americans have access to clean air.

During the hearing to examine several pieces of legislation related to air quality and community monitoring, Padilla spoke with Dr. Cassandra Moseley, Vice Provost for Academic Operation and Strategy at the University of Oregon, about the critical need to enact wildfire smoke protection legislation. He also spoke with Mr. John Walke, Director of the Clean Air Project, about California’s environmental leadership as the top agricultural state and the critical role that farmers and ranchers play in feeding the nation and in reducing methane emissions and ensuring clean air for all Americans.

Key Excerpts:

• PADILLA: It’s not just a California issue. It’s not just a western United States issue because a lot of people remember, I got calls from my colleagues, all the way to Illinois, even colleagues on the Eastern Seaboard last year, complaining about the air quality. […] how crucial do you think it is to enact these bills as quickly as possible to protect public health and better inform communities of the dangers posed by wildfire smoke?
  
  MOSELEY: […] the importance of taking action to protect people from wildfire smoke is increasingly urgent not only in our states, but as you say across the country as smoke as we learn more and more about the negative impacts of smoke as well as the rapid increase in the number of people in all walks of life who are affected by that smoke.

• PADILLA: California is also the largest agricultural state, home to a $50 billion agricultural economy, and the largest dairy industry in the country. California’s farmers and ranchers know better than most at our ability to feed the nation and to support family farmers and farmworkers alike relies on clean air and clean water. That’s why California is working to cut methane emissions by at least 40% by 2030, in partnership with farmers and ranchers as they transition to more sustainable manure management and emission reduction practices.

• PADILLA: […] how important is the EPA operating permit program to the ability of states like California to protect the public and support investments in smart, sustainable agricultural practices?
  
  WALKE: Well, the key to the operating permit program, and it’s sometimes misunderstood, is really to just have some monitoring and reporting so that there’s public awareness and some accountability and that so the states and the federal government can get a handle on how much the emissions are from this industry.

Senator Padilla has been a leader in all phases of wildfire prevention, mitigation, and suppression efforts. Last year, Padilla co-sponsored the Wildfire-Resilient Communities Act and the Smoke-Ready Communities Act, two bills aimed at battling wildfires, protecting workers, and helping combat the effects of wildfire smoke. Padilla also co-sponsored the Smoke Planning and Research Act and the Wildfire Smoke Emergency Declaration Act, bills that aimed to ensure that California has the federal resources it needs to protect communities impacted by wildfire smoke.

A full transcript of the exchange can be found below:

PADILLA

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I, first of all want to thank Senator Merkley for his leadership in introducing both the Smoke Planning and Research Act of 2021 and the Smoke Ready Communities Act of 2021. It’s not just the state of Oregon, not just the state of California, but it’s the entire western United States. But California in particular, that is all too familiar with the devastation caused by wildfires, not just the fires themselves, I’m also referring to the smell and effects of wildfire smoke. But again, it’s not just a California issue. It’s not just a western United States issue, because a lot of people remember, I got calls from my colleagues, all the way to Illinois, even colleagues on the Eastern Seaboard last year, complaining about the air quality.

Think about that the air quality in the East Coast, that was the result of wildfires burning in the West. So it truly is a national concern. Now, wildfire smoke is a complex mixture of air pollutants, clearly unhealthy to breathe, and it can be especially dangerous for children, for the elderly, for pregnant women, for anyone with heart or respiratory conditions. A recent Stanford University study found that single family homes across the country tend to have three to four times higher particulate pollution during wildfire events than public health guidelines recommend. So my question is for Dr. Moseley, given that time is of the essence with increasingly extreme and more frequent wildfires continuing across the West, how crucial do you think it is to enact these bills as quickly as possible to protect public health and better inform communities of the dangers posed by wildfire smoke?

MOSELEY

Thank you for that question. I, wildfire is growing so rapidly that for those of us who live in the West, you can almost barely imagine it. The fires in your state and mine have been just astonishing. And so the importance of taking action to protect people from wildfire smoke is increasingly urgent not only in our states, but as you say across the country as smoke as we learn more and more about the negative impacts of smoke as well as the rapid increase in the number of people in all walks of life who are affected by that smoke.

PADILLA

I appreciate the near written testimony, your reference to equity concerns, how there’s a disproportionate impact on lower income individuals lower income communities. Mr. Walke, my home state of California has long been recognized as a national leader in the fight against the climate crisis and for our efforts to protect communities from toxic air and water pollution as well. California is also the largest agricultural state, home to a $50 billion agricultural economy, and the largest dairy industry in the country. California’s farmers and ranchers know better than most at our ability to feed the nation and to support family farmers and farmworkers alike relies on clean air and clean water. That’s why California is working to cut methane emissions by at least 40% by 2030, in partnership with farmers and ranchers as they transition to more sustainable manure management and emission reduction practices. Senate Bill 1475 would preemptively restrict EPA is authority, preventing the agency from considering policies to address the industrial livestock sector. To your knowledge, is there precedent for exempting entire industries from major components of the Clean Air Act?

WALKE

No, certainly not in this manner. I was shocked to learn that agriculture emits more methane emissions in the United States than the oil and gas sector. And the vast majority of that comes from the digestion processes of animals is not a problem that we should be kind of permanently codifying into an exemption in the law. If, you know, if we kick the can down the road with an appropriation writer, we can always change our mind, but if it becomes a permanent exemption, in the Clean Air Act, my experience is it’s just never gonna go away. We’re never going to solve this problem.

PADILLA

So so just to underscore the point, how important is the EPA operating permit program to the ability of states like California to protect the public and support investments in smart, sustainable agricultural practices?

WALKE

Well, the key to the operating permit program, and it’s sometimes misunderstood, is really to just have some monitoring and reporting so that there’s public awareness and some accountability and that so the states and the federal government can get a handle on how much the emissions are from this industry. Right now, we don’t know, there’s nothing to require it. EPA was required by a court ordered in 2005 to develop emissions estimation methodologies for concentrated animal feeding operations or CAFOs. They are 17 years overdue. Now, they’re supposed to come out with something this fall. I’m waiting, you know, with bated breath to see what it will say. But we’re just not taking this problem seriously. And unfortunately, a permanent exemption from the Clean Air Act is just not the right approach, in my opinion.

PADILLA

Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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