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The Bay Area Air District (BAAD), formerly Bay Area Air Quality Management District or BAAQMD, is a public agency that regulates the stationary sources of
air pollution Air pollution is the presence of substances in the Atmosphere of Earth, air that are harmful to humans, other living beings or the environment. Pollutants can be Gas, gases like Ground-level ozone, ozone or nitrogen oxides or small particles li ...
in the nine counties of
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
's
San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...
:
Alameda An alameda is a street or path lined with trees () and may refer to: Places Canada * Alameda, Saskatchewan, town in Saskatchewan ** Grant Devine Dam, formerly ''Alameda Dam'', a dam and reservoir in southern Saskatchewan Chile * Alameda (Santi ...
, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa,
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
, San Mateo, Santa Clara, southwestern Solano, and southern Sonoma. The BAAD is governed by a 24-member Board of Directors composed of elected officials from each of the nine Bay Area counties. The board has the duty of adopting air pollution regulations for the district. It is one of 35
Air Quality Management Districts In 1947, the State of California enacted the Air Pollution Control Act that authorized the creation of Air Pollution Control Districts (APCD) or Air Quality Management Districts (AQMD) in every county of the State. California has 22 APCDs, 12 AQM ...
in California. The District launched the now-current name and brand logo in January of 2025.


History

The first meeting of the Bay Area Air Pollution Control District (as it was initially known) board of directors was on November 16, 1955, possessing the duty of regulating the sources of stationary air pollution in the
San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...
, that is, most sources of air pollution with the exception of automobiles and aircraft. * 1957 - The Air District banned open burning at wrecking yards; * 1958 - The Air District limited industrial emissions in 1958; * 1958 - the Air District opened its first analytical laboratory; * 1960 - The Air District banned open burning at dumps; * 1962 - Ambient air monitoring network established; * 1968 - The Air District later began to regulate agricultural burning in 1968; * 1970 - Backyard burning banned; * 1971 - the Air District adopted emissions standards for lead; * 1971 - Napa, Solano, and Sonoma counties became members of the Air District; * 1972 - The Air District began making daily air quality broadcasts through the "smog phone"; * 1972 - The board adopted the first odor regulation in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
; * 1974 - California's first gasoline vapor recovery program was started; * 1975 - The country's first air quality
ozone Ozone () (or trioxygen) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic molecule with the chemical formula . It is a pale blue gas with a distinctively pungent smell. It is an allotrope of oxygen that is much less stable than the diatomic allotrope , break ...
model was completed by the Air District; * 1978 - The Bay Area Air Pollution Control District changed its name to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District; * 1980 - The Air District proposed a "Smog Check" program, one that would be adopted statewide by 1982. * 1989 - The Air District adopted the nation's first limits on emissions from commercial bakeries and marine vessel loading; * 1990 - The Air District adopted regulations for emissions from aerosol spray products; * 1991 - The Spare the Air program was started, made to notify the public of when air quality is forecast to exceed federal standards; * 1996 - The Air District founded its vehicle buyback program, intended to buy and scrap older, more polluting automobiles; * 1998 - The Air District began administrating the
Carl Moyer Program The Carl Moyer Memorial Air Quality Standards Attainment Program (Carl Moyer Program) is a State of California engine retrofit and replacement program implemented through the cooperative efforts of local air districts such as the Bay Area Air Qual ...
to reduce emissions by upgrading heavy-duty diesel engines; * 1998 and 1999 - The Air District took steps to reduce particulate matter, primarily through regulating woodburning appliances and monitoring
particulate matter Particulate matter (PM) or particulates are microscopic particles of solid or liquid matter suspended in the air. An ''aerosol'' is a mixture of particulates and air, as opposed to the particulate matter alone, though it is sometimes defin ...
through pre-existing air quality monitoring stations; * 2005 - The Air District began to regulate emissions from refinery flares; * 2008 - The Board passed a law that makes the previously voluntary compliance with wood burning regulations a crime. Citizens wishing to use wood burning appliances during winter months now must check if a Spare the Air alert is in effect, which would prohibit residential wood burning, with certain exemptions.


Governing board

The Air District's board of directors is made up of 24 locally appointed representatives from 9 Bay Area counties. Each county's population determines the number of representatives on the Board, as follows: * < 300,000: 1 representative each (Marin and Napa) * 300,000-750,000: 2 representatives each (Solano and Sonoma) * 750,000-1,000,000: 3 representatives each (San Francisco and San Mateo) * >1,000,000: 4 representatives each (Alameda, Contra Costa, and Santa Clara) Board members are appointed by their County's Board of Supervisors and/or their County's City Selection Committee. In addition, the Board has 12 standing committees on which the board members sit.


Uses of data

BAAD oversees regional data on air pollution and has the authority to declare Spare the Air alerts, when residents should take extra precautions when going outside and may be prohibited from engaging in activities such as burning. 511 Contra Costa built an
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feed using these data, and released an
iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...
application to alert people with allergies or other environmental sensitivities about air quality alerts.


Divisions

Administration: http://www.baaqmd.gov/Divisions/Administration.aspx Communications: https://www.baaqmd.gov/news-and-events/press-releases Compliance & Enforcement: http://www.baaqmd.gov/Divisions/Compliance-and-Enforcement.aspx Engineering: http://www.baaqmd.gov/Divisions/Engineering.aspx Finance: http://www.baaqmd.gov/Divisions/Finance.aspx Human Resources: http://www.baaqmd.gov/Divisions/Human-Resources.aspx Information Services: http://www.baaqmd.gov/Divisions/Information-Services.aspx Legal: http://www.baaqmd.gov/Divisions/Legal.aspx Planning, Rules & Research: http://www.baaqmd.gov/Divisions/Planning-and-Research.aspx Strategic Incentives: http://www.baaqmd.gov/Divisions/Strategic-Incentives.aspx Technical Services: http://www.baaqmd.gov/Divisions/Technical-Services.aspx


Notable facilities in jurisdiction

Some example stationary sources in the BAAD jurisdiction are: *
The Shaw Group The Shaw Group is a pipe and steel fabrication firm specializing in induction bending. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Shaw employs approximately 1,400 people across its offices and operations in North America and the Middle East. History ...
waste ponds, Martinez, CA *
Pacific Gas and Electric The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is an American investor-owned utility (IOU). The company is headquartered at Kaiser Center, in Oakland, California. PG&E provides natural gas and electricity to 5.2 million households in the norther ...
*
Shell Oil Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company, headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Y ...
refinery, Martinez, CA *
Chevron Corporation Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation predominantly specializing in oil and gas. The second-largest direct descendant of Standard Oil, and originally known as the Standard Oil Company of California (shortened t ...
refinery, Richmond, CA


See also

* Spare the Air *
Carl Moyer Program The Carl Moyer Memorial Air Quality Standards Attainment Program (Carl Moyer Program) is a State of California engine retrofit and replacement program implemented through the cooperative efforts of local air districts such as the Bay Area Air Qual ...
*
Association of Bay Area Governments The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) is a regional planning agency incorporating various local governments in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. It encompasses nine counties surrounding the San Francisco Bay. Those counties are ...
*
Metropolitan Transportation Commission (San Francisco Bay Area) The Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) is the government agency responsible for regional transportation planning and financing in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was created in 1970 by the State of California, with support from the Bay A ...
*
California Air Resources Board The California Air Resources Board (CARB or ARB) is an agency of the government of California that aims to reduce air pollution. Established in 1967 when then-governor Ronald Reagan signed the Mulford-Carrell Act, combining the Bureau of Air S ...
*
South Coast Air Quality Management District The South Coast Air Quality Management District, also using the acronym South Coast (AQMD), formed in 1976, is the air pollution agency responsible for regulating stationary sources of air pollution in the South Coast Air Basin and the Coachel ...
*
List of California air districts In 1947, the State of California enacted the Air Pollution Control Act that authorized the creation of Air Pollution Control Districts (APCD) or Air Quality Management Districts (AQMD) in every county of the State. California has 22 APCDs, 12 AQM ...


References


External links


Bay Area Air Quality Management DistrictSpare the Air websiteCarl Moyer Program Clean air reference website Fireplace Rebate Fund
including 800-EXHAUST (800-394-2878) to report smoggy cars {{Authority control Government in the San Francisco Bay Area Air pollution in California Environment of the San Francisco Bay Area 1955 establishments in California