The Road To Clean aiR - LA Differentiated

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Executive Fellow Shankar
Prasad, M.B.B.S.
Dr. Prasad came to the
Coalition for Clean Air (CCA)
in 2008, bringing with him
invaluable experience as the
deputy secretary for science
and environmental justice at
the California Environmental
Protection Agency and as a
health effects officer at the
South Coast Air Quality Management District.
In his time with our organization, he has helped
build a climate change program that aims to
secure equal protection for all Californians.
As part of the implementation plan for AB
32—California’s landmark Global Warming
Solutions Act of 2006—Dr. Prasad co-authored
a white paper and helped persuade the California
Air Resources Board to identify California’s most
polluted communities. This critical inclusion
ensures the protection of communities that bear
the greatest burden of air pollution. Taking it
one step further, CCA has since co-sponsored
legislation—AB 1405—which will strengthen
these overburdened communities by allocating
financial resources to those who are least able to
cope with the effects of the climate crisis.
Dr. Prasad’s advocacy efforts are helping to
advance sound policies in California that will set
the bar for climate change legislation worldwide.
The AB 1405 coalition
CCA’s efforts on AB 1405 are shared by
the prominent co-authors and sponsors of
the bill, as well as a continuously growing
coalition of environmental, social justice,
public health and faith-based groups.
Primary co-authors
Assemblymembers Kevin de León, Mike Eng
and V. Manuel Perez
Additional co-authors
Assemblymember Carter
Senators Pavley, Price and Romero
Latino Caucus (priority bill):
Assemblymembers Arambula, Caballero,
Coto, Fuentes, Hernandez, Mendoza, Salas,
Saldaña and Solorio
Co-sponsors
Coalition for Clean Air
California State NAACP
Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment
Environmental Working Group
Greenlining Institute
CCA coordinated a press event for AB 1405
Community Benefits Fund with Assemblymember
Kevin de León and community advocates.
“
When the air quality is poor, it is
difficult for my 11-year-old son Israel to
breathe. He suffers from asthma and has
to use his inhaler. There are many children
at my son’s school who, like Israel, have
trouble breathing when it is hot and a layer
of filthy, brown smog envelops our entire
neighborhood.
Climate change is a global crisis that we
feel on a community level. I want to help
create a community that is a safe haven—
one where polluters pay for the smoke
they emit into the air, making my family,
my community, suffer from illnesses.
We need to make our neighborhoods
healthier and cleaner by supporting
the representatives who are trying
to strengthen our communities and
protect them from the climate crisis.
California must take steps to invest in the
neighborhoods that have suffered the
most from air pollution and will continue
to struggle with the consequences of the
climate crisis. ”
—
Anna Mota, president of Los
Angeles-based group Volunteer
Parents Work Together
Coalition for Clean Air
20
2009 Annual Report