LA Daily News: House members from LA want pollutants from Southern California wildfires tracked

Nearly a dozen congressional members in or near Los Angeles County are asking the federal government to launch a joint task force to monitor harmful pollutants that have resulted from the recent wildfires to track the potential impact on Southern California residents.

The representatives — who represent areas most impacted by the wildfires — raised concerns that routine smog and air quality monitoring systems don’t measure harmful pollutants like lead, chlorine, asbestos, larger ash particles and other heavy metals.

Reps. Laura Friedman, D-Burbank, and Judy Chu, D-Pasadena, were joined by Reps. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, and George Whitesides, D-Santa Clarita, and Pasadena city officials during a Monday, Feb. 3, press conference outside Pasadena City Hall in calling for the task force.

The Congress members sent a letter, signed by six other Democratic House members who represent L.A. County or neighboring Ventura County, to Lee Zeldin, the new administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, urging him to convene a task force to track “all possible hazardous air, water and soil pollutants,” to regularly report out that information to the public, and to provide guidance to residents in the greater L.A. area about how to protect themselves.

The lawmakers are concerned about potential health risks. Lead exposure, for example, can negatively affect brain development and damage the nervous system.

Their letter noted that unlike brush or forest fires, urban wildfires burn through homes, commercial buildings, cars and other structures that can release toxins that aren’t measured by the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s Air Quality Index.

The Palisades fire along the coast and the Eaton fire that ravaged the San Gabriel Valley communities of Altadena and Pasadena — both broke out on Jan. 7 and weren’t fully contained until last week — damaged or destroyed more than 16,000 structures and burned more than 37,000 acres combined. The two fires killed at least 29 people.

“Despite the fires, recent AQI levels in greater Los Angeles have ranged from ‘Good’ to ‘Moderate’ even with the threat of things like asbestos or lead in the air, because AQI does not measure all potential airborne wildfire-related pollutants,” the letter states.

“Residents are, therefore, unsure of the actual risks they face and confused by conflicting reports about how safe it is to breathe the air outside, which may lead to families not taking adequate protective measures,” the letter further said. “This lack of full information could increase the risk of long-term negative health effects, especially among vulnerable populations like children, pregnant women, and the elderly, regardless of whether or not people are in areas that have been directly impacted by wildfires.”

Researchers at Caltech recently detected increased levels of lead, chlorine and black carbon in the air from Jan. 7-11. They reported that lead levels on Jan. 9 were, on average, 100 times greater than the typical range.

Similarly, chlorine levels were 40 times greater at the peak, while average black carbon levels were eight times greater than pre-fire concentrations.

The Caltech researchers relied on data from a nationwide real-time monitoring system with a site in Pico Rivera, roughly 20 miles south of Altadena and Pasadena, where the Eaton fire tore through.

In a statement, Friedman said residents deserve to know what they’re breathing in — and to be protected from the toxins.

“This isn’t an issue where we can hold our breath and expect it to go away,” Friedman said.

Chu, who represents Altadena and Pasadena, said that as cleanup efforts occur, those living in and around the impacted areas “must have complete confidence that the air they are breathing, water they are drinking and ground they are walking on is safe.”

The lawmakers proposed that the task force be made up of representatives from the EPA, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, South Coast Air Quality Management District, L.A. County Department of Public Health and other agencies.

They also identified the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a partner in the task force, though President Donald Trump has floated the idea of reshaping or “getting rid of” FEMA.

Other signees of the letter are Reps. Nanette Barragán, Robert Garcia, Jimmy Gomez, Sydney Kamlager-Dove and Luz Rivas, all Democrats representing L.A. County. In addition, Rep. Julia Brownley of Ventura County also signed the letter.