A Total Waste of Money!!! Bay Area Air Quality Management District (home, unemployment)

[CometVoyager]

In a time of massive unemployment and bankrupt state governments why do we still have the Bay Area Air Quality Management District!!!

This is nothing but a truck load of coffee drinking government bureaucrats who do nothing but make everyone's life miserable.

California air quality has never been better since catalytic converters have been perfected. These little air Nazis of the Cash Sucking Bay Area Air Quality Management is more so into micro management of peoples fire places and wasting our money than truly helping maintain a healthy environment for people living here!

The process has began of helping dismantle these wasteful government cash sucking programs.

Soon a petition shall follow!

[bayarea-girl]

Never new such a thing existed. How is it being funded and who regulates it?

[artemis78]

It's a state-funded agency, one of 35 that regulate air pollution across the state. Ours is actually one of the more efficient, as it's a collaboration between nine counties. (LA County, in contrast, has two just for their county!) Their job is to implement the state and federal clean air legislation, among other things. They oversee everything from emissions to the ports to asbestos abatement to dry cleaner chemicals to blasting and construction permits and regulations. Right now they're also funding a lot of climate change work and green energy projects. (If you live in the Bay Area, you might have seen their Spare the Air campaign.) They answer to both the state (they're part of the CA Environmental Protection Agency) and the feds.

I'm all for trimming bureaucracy, but this particular agency is actually one of the more functional---and if you want to get rid of it, you've got a very long list of air protection legislation that you need to repeal first! (And I have a feeling your window of opportunity to get DC to repeal the Clean Air Act closed about ten days ago....)

[Ultrarunner]

I actually applied for a job their many years ago...

The BAAQMD is growing in scope and size and has the power to shut down and fine business and now home owners...

The local Hospital has emergency power stand-by diesel Generators that are meticulously maintained. The Generators WERE tested weekly to insure critical emergency power capabilities. The last thing you want is for the power to go out during surgery or when a patient is on life support

Several years ago the BAAQMD required Hospital Emergency Generators be registered by paying an annual fee AND the Hospital can now only test every other week instead of weekly

I don't know about you... but I would want everything life support critical in a Hospital tested more... rather than less

They no longer permit or have instituted restrictions on Hospital ability to sterilize certain equipment used in Surgery. Not everything can be steam autoclaved or immersed in liquid and therein lies the problem... gas fumigation is the only option for some sensitive equipment and now some Hospital have to send the instruments out of the 9 Bay Area Counties to Sterilize.

Local Tree Trimmers that use environmentally friendly brush chippers to reduce fire hazards are now being told they can no longer operate older chippers... some costing 100k new...

Don't get me started on permitted, EPA Certified, Catalyst Equip low emission stoves that were sold to unsuspecting home owners as being fully compliant and now, with a stroke of a pen rendered using them a crime.