Tighter air rules raise costs of Valley pollution

There's a new annual price tag on the cost of breathing dirty air in the San Joaquin Valley: 823 premature deaths and $6.3 billion. The figures are roughly twice as high as they were two years ago in a similar report, because researchers are factoring in the newest, strictest federal ozone and particulate standards. Researchers Jane V. Hall and Victor Brajer of California State University, Fullerton, also included the South Coast Air Basin in the study. Most of the Valley's $6.3 billion cost is the value placed on people who die prematurely from exposure to the microscopic specks of soot, chemical and liquid in particulate matter. Fresno County has the Valley's highest numbers with 212 premature deaths each year, with lost value pegged at $1.4 billion, according to the report. The county also has the Valley's highest yearly total of non-fatal heart attacks related to air quality, 156. Statistics on South Coast, with roughly five times as many residents, dwarf the Valley's numbers. For instance, more than 3,000 people die prematurely each year due to air pollution in Southern California. The value of the fatalities is placed at $11.4 billion for Los Angeles County alone.