REQUEST TO SOUTH COAST
AIR QUALITY MANAGEMENT DISTRICT FOR RULES TO CONTROL AIR POLLUTION AT
SANTA MONICA AIRPORT GAINS SUPPORT
THE SANTA
MONICA AIRPORT COMMISSION JOINS THE LIST IN SUPPORT OF CONTROLS ON AIR POLLUTION FROM
SANTA MONICA AIRPORT
Santa Monica, CA - The Santa
Monica Airport Commission voted unanimously at their August 27, 2012 meeting to support a request letter from attorney Mitchell Tsai, representing Concerned
Residents Against Airport Pollution (CRAAP), to South Coast Air Quality Management
District (SCAQMD), asking for SCAQMD to impose indirect source controls on air pollution emissions from Santa Monica Airport (SMO).
Tsai feels that, with SCAQMD in the development process of their
2012 Air Quality Management Plan, the time is appropriate to address this localized critical issue.
Martin Rubin, Director
of CRAAP, and Tsai stated that SCAQMD should address air pollution caused by activities at SMO because it has a disproportionate
environmental health impact on local residents. SMO is unique in having dense
residential development less than 300 feet from the east and west ends of the runway, and unlike other Southern California
airports, SMO has almost no buffer zone between the runway ends and the surrounding community. Cancer risks to local residents
from SMO significantly exceed the guideline lifetime cancer risk of one in a million individuals for cancer risk from maximum
exposure to a source of air pollutants under the Federal Clean Air Act. Other community groups that have voted in support
of rules to control air pollution from SMO are the Westside Neighborhood Council,
Mar Vista Community Council, Venice Neighborhood Council, West Los Angeles Neighborhood Council, North Westdale Neighborhood
Association, and Neighbors of Santa Monica Airport.
Rubin feels now that the Santa Monica Airport Commission has sent
this letter to the Santa Monica City Council with the Commission's stamp of approval,
City Council should place this item on the Council agenda for public comments. "Council owes it to the neighboring communities
to do something about the air pollution problem from their airport, and this is something they should certainly support."
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