[Chapter 4, page 67]

NCE: The Story so Far

In Chapter 4, we talked about the necessity of program strategies for problem solving. Developing and carrying out a program strategy requires:

• specifying your goal
• defining a plan for achieving the goal
• ensuring that you have adequate resources to implement the plan
• selecting grantees who will execute the plan
• assessing progress and making corrections where appropriate

We discussed how the Hewlett Foundation followed these steps with their New Constituencies for the Environment (NCE) initiative, which aimed to reduce air pollution in the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California and to increase the technical capacity, resources, and political effectiveness of organizations representing minorities and other disadvantaged groups. By the beginning of 2008, Hewlett grantees had made some progress in the San Joaquin Valley both on specific plans and in changing the political landscape underlying air pollution decision making.

• Before Dr. Hall’s report, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District had emphasized the costs of improved air quality without acknowledging the extent of health costs imposed by air pollution. While ISSRC put the costs of cleanup in the billions, its report argued that they were outweighed by the (monetized) health benefits from reducing air pollution. While the district claimed that existing technologies could not bring the entire Valley into attainment of the 8-hour ozone standard for another 17 years, the ISSRC’s strategies showed that one could do so in 10 years on a similar budget. The Air Pollution Control District, though citing both the Hall and ISSRC reports to argue for public funding for improvements in air quality, nonetheless asked the California Air Resource Board (CARB) to approve a plan that delayed meeting federal ozone standards until 2024.
• In June 2007, CARB approved the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District’s proposed plan. However, in response to ISSRC’s technical critiques of the plan and considerable public pressure and media scrutiny, CARB established a task force of various stakeholders that included Hewlett grantees, among them ISSRC, to assess measures to strengthen the plan. This was a politically significant and promising move by CARB. Formerly fighting from the outside, environmental organizations had now earned an inside track.
• Governor Schwarzenegger expressed his disappointment with CARB’s June 2007 decision and soon thereafter replaced its chair with someone perceived to be more politically astute. There was no question that advocates’ efforts had raised the profile of the Valley’s air pollution crisis to the state level. With a new leadership, and now in the spotlight of relentless advocacy by grantees, CARB announced additional commitments to reduce smog from some of the Valley’s mobile sources, including trucks and tractors.
• The CARB task force met over the next 6 months and recommended additional changes to the existing plan. The deadline for achieving EPA’s 8 hour standard nonetheless remained at 2024, disappointing many who had believed that a more thorough review would result in shortening the time. But additional measures were adopted that will reduce the number of days exceeding the 8 hour ozone health standard by approximately 75% by 2017. As a result, 40% of the Valley’s population will benefit from improved air quality, marking significant progress.
• CVAQ members have begun to acknowledge the scope of the cleanup costs and to accept that not all of the costs will be borne by businesses; some are collaborating on strategies to obtain public funding. At some members’ request, the Hewlett Foundation and other funders, are paying for a mediator to bring industry and environmental representatives together to find common ground and press for a public-private funding plan to accelerate air pollution clean up.
• Advocacy around air quality in the San Joaquin Valley led to the passage of a critical piece of legislation that had failed in previous years. In 2007, in the face of opposition by business interests and some members of San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District’s Board, the California Legislature enacted a law enlarging the board from 11 to 15 members to add air quality experts (one medical and one science expert) and more representation from the Valley’s cities. In addition, earlier in the year, as a result of community pressure and assistance of by a state senator, two environmentally progressive members were appointed to slots that opened up on the Board. Although these members do not constitute a majority, these changes will blunt industry’s historic grip on the District.