Project Clean Air

Visit our website: www.projectcleanair.us

Kern County's agricultural, oil and environmental leaders put differences aside and came together to found Project Clean Air in 1991. Now, 25 years later, Project Clean Air continues to serve as an advocate for our region to bring funding and expertise to carry out programs that clean the air.

We are looking for new leaders to carry on our mission of cleaner air and better health for all. Our growing efforts include educating a new generation and delivering innovative projects to meet our community's challenging clean-air goals. Although much progress has been made, the San Joaquin Valley continues to rank among the worst in the nation for poor air quality. Kern County in particular, with its location at the southern end of the Valley, is subject to climate and geographic conditions that trap pollutants. Bakersfield, in the American Lung Association’s 2015 State of the Air Report, ranked first among all metropolitan areas in the nation for particle pollution and second – behind only the Los Angeles area – for ozone pollution. Clearly, we have a lot of work remaining in the years ahead.  

With one in five children suffering from asthma, schools don’t receive the funding they need because of absences and parents also miss days at work to care for their child. Trips to the emergency room from respiratory illnesses result in rising healthcare costs. Lung cancer, the No. 1 cancer killer for women, and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, or COPD, are debilitating diseases that result in premature death. The impacts from air pollution affect our health, our region’s economy and are a concern for everyone living here.   
Through the years, Project Clean Air also has helped other nonprofits. Car-crushing programs today benefit from PCA's first publicly funded car crushing program. We also helped to start the Tree Foundation of Kern and launched other initiatives that continue to operate and improve air quality. These programs have led to improved air quality and also created jobs at other nonprofits or agencies.

With the transportation sector now accounting for up to 80 percent of pollution in the San Joaquin Valley, our focus today is on vehicle projects as well as education and awareness. We have trained teachers and created a curriculum to teach students how to design their own model electric vehicles and how these vehicles can help reduce air pollution from tailpipe emissions. We staff dozens of outreach events annually, talking to the public about government incentive programs and educating them about what they can do to help clean our Valley’s air. 

We also collaborate with both businesses and government agencies, leading regional efforts to promote the use of alternative fuels. For years, as the U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Cities Coalition for the San Joaquin Valley, we have advanced natural gas, propane and other alternative fuels. As a result, Kern County is home to several large CNG and LNG fleets, including those at the Kern County Superintendent of Schools, Golden Empire Transit, County of Kern, and City of Bakersfield. Now, through the San Joaquin Valley Electric Vehicle Partnership, we are working to put more electric vehicles on our roads and install EV charging infrastructure.

From regulatory impacts on businesses to health impacts for residents, we all are affected by poor air quality. The next time you or someone you know suffers from asthma, COPD or another lung disease, think about how you can support our work and we all will benefit from cleaner air.