Some in Santa Maria (Santa Barbara County) believe they have a pesticide problem. It is farming country. But, instead of determining the problem and setting policy to alleviate the problem, they instead decided to go WOKE and invoke “environmental justice”, whatever that is.
“Now a component of Lompoc’s general plan, the environmental justice element fulfills a state mandate that required the city to compile statistics related to pollution and other environmental issues and identify objectives to improve air quality and promote safe and sanitary housing practices in disadvantaged communities.
“It’s really important that we set ourselves up for success,” Mayor Jenelle Osborne said at the meeting. “Identifying current issues that impact the least among us the hardest is one of those ways we lift the community up.”
Before drafting the new element, staff used geospatial screening tools to analyze several environmental, socioeconomic, and health factors that impact Lompoc residents, summarized by project consultant Michael Gibbons at the Dec. 3 hearing.”
What gobblygook. Words meant to hide this is about politics, not safety.
Lompoc approves its first environmental justice element
By Caleb Wiseblood, Santa Maria Sun,12/16/24 https://www.santamariasun.com/news/lompoc-approves-its-first-environmental-justice-element-16159171
A new blueprint for a greener future in Lompoc is moving forward thanks to a recent City Council decision.
Over the course of four public hearings (held in May, June, August, and September), the Lompoc Planning Commission worked with city staff to discuss and draft the city’s first environmental justice element, which the City Council reviewed and ultimately adopted during its Dec. 3 meeting.
GREEN DAY: During its first meeting of December, the Lompoc City Council adopted the city’s first environmental justice element, a new inclusion of the city’s general plan focused on pollution mitigation and resolving other environmental issues.
Now a component of Lompoc’s general plan, the environmental justice element fulfills a state mandate that required the city to compile statistics related to pollution and other environmental issues and identify objectives to improve air quality and promote safe and sanitary housing practices in disadvantaged communities.
“It’s really important that we set ourselves up for success,” Mayor Jenelle Osborne said at the meeting. “Identifying current issues that impact the least among us the hardest is one of those ways we lift the community up.”
Before drafting the new element, staff used geospatial screening tools to analyze several environmental, socioeconomic, and health factors that impact Lompoc residents, summarized by project consultant Michael Gibbons at the Dec. 3 hearing.
The primary takeaway is that Lompoc has a significant pesticide problem.
With data from the California Department of Pesticide Regulation, staff determined that the study’s “community of focus” (defined as Lompoc’s five census tracts with low-income residents and disproportionate pollution burdens, health impacts, and socioeconomic barriers) has a pesticide use percentile score between 81 and 85, showing that pesticide exposure risk is 83 to 85 percent higher than it is in other census tracts in California.
To mitigate pesticide exposure and pollution exposure in general, one of the element’s policies advises city officials to prioritize health and safety impacts associated with future land use decisions.
A separate policy calls for the city to “encourage the Santa Barbara County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office to provide pesticide use education to raise awareness about the potential health impacts from pesticide use and [provide a] process to report pesticide violations,” according to the staff report.
During the Dec. 3 meeting, Gibbons said some of the project’s policies and programs—which also include initiatives related to housing, food access, and other issues in disadvantaged communities—are “already being done in an informal fashion,” but were not codified prior to the environmental justice element.
A 4-1 vote ensured the element’s approval, with Councilmember Victor Vega dissenting. Vega requested an additional round of edits or alternative proposals and was concerned the current iteration would give unfair advantages to certain housing developers.
“This element does not propose any special housing concessions, any waivers, or any development regulations for developers within the community of focus,” Gibbons clarified during the meeting. “There are opportunities for developers looking to construct low-income housing. They can apply for things like density bonuses or there are streamlined state project approvals. … There’s a series of thresholds for a variety of streamlined development projects that the state allows, but there’s nothing specifically here that’s mandating development.”
