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The report is based on federal data and has been released by the group "Environment California."
Thu Nov 12, 2009
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Aired 11/12/2009 on All Things Considered
Aired 11/13/2009 on Morning Edition
(Sacramento, CA)
A new study says California’s air pollution levels linked to global warming increased over much of the past two decades.
Capital Public Radio's Steve Shadley reports...
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The group Environment California hopes its report will push the state to adopt stricter clean air regulations in the future.
California already is trying to reach a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to their 1990 levels in the state within ten years.
But, Environment California’s Charlotte Glennie says as more people move to the state, those standards won’t do enough to curb air pollution.
She says economic growth is at stake...
Glennie: “Especially here in California where tourism and agriculture are such important industries. We really need to think about the impact that global warming will have on our coastlines and on the fertility of our soil. Really, the most expensive thing we can do is nothing...”
But, some state lawmakers want to postpone efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, fearing more jobs will be lost during the recession.
Meantime, the American Lung Association says air pollution causes an average of 19-thousand premature deaths in California each year.
The Environment California report is based on federal studies of air pollution in each state from 1990 to 2007.
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