County Supervisors Push for Federal Emergency on Tijuana River Air pollution

Final Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors declared the primary state of emergency on Tijuana Sewage and known as on the Biden Administration to declare a federal emergency.

Following the vote, San Diego County’s Meeting and State Senate delegations wrote to Gov. Gavin Newsom requesting the state of California be part of the emergency declaration, and the area’s congressional representatives elevated this request on to Biden.

“If 35 million gallons of sewage had been being spilled on the Nationwide Mall in D.C. every day, our authorities would’ve taken motion way back,” mentioned Lawson-Remer. “But right here we’re, celebrating the 4th of July vacation with lots of our area’s seashores unsafe to swim in.”

“On the present tempo, my 4-year-old daughter could also be in center faculty by the point we’ve made any actual progress,” she added. “Our sewage disaster threatens our well being, our surroundings, and our economic system. We’d like a federal emergency declared and motion now.”

Vargas and Lawson-Remer added signatures of two,500 county residents to a petition calling on federal motion from Biden.

Paloma Aguirre, elected final 12 months to be Imperial Seaside’s mayor-at-large, mentioned her neighborhood can’t wait one other 15 years for enhancements.

“Imperial Seaside has suffered for many years from cross-border air pollution, with its seashore being closed daily this 12 months. … The impacts are fairly, fairly extreme,” she mentioned.

Metropolis Information Service contributed to this text.