Mary Curry, 81 years old and seasoned in political battles, captured southwest Fresno's plight when she told Bee reporter Mark Grossi, "We ask for help. Nobody is listening."

Curry could have been talking about the lack of investment in her community. She could have been talking about the many unsolved gang killings that frustrate her neighbors.

But she was talking about the confluence of poor planning and environmental inattention making southwest Fresno the unhealthiest place to live in California.

A startling fact stands out in Grossi's front-page story today on the state's most environmentally burdened areas: the life expectancy of people in southwest Fresno is 69 -- more than 20 years shorter than for someone in northeast Fresno.

This statistic brings into sharp focus why people seek environmental justice. In Curry's section of the city, newborns weigh less than babies whose mothers live elsewhere and emergency room visits because of asthma attacks are routine. Because southwest Fresno is separated from the rest of Fresno by train tracks and Highway 99, residents there breath more diesel and gas exhaust. The once fondly described "Golden West Side" also is sandwiched between city and farms, thus residents are more likely to be exposed to pesticides.

Add these (and other factors) all up, and the California Environmental Protection Agency calculates that pollution burden in zip code 93706 is more than three times higher than in the least-impacted areas of the city. In addition, nine of the 12 unhealthiest zip codes in California are in the San Joaquin Valley.

The question is, what can be done to make southwest Fresno and the entire Valley healthier places to live and raise families?

Congress must pass and President Obama must sign legislation designating the San Joaquin Valley a federal air quality empowerment zone and bringing $20 million a year in federal grants to clean up pollution.

California officials must stop allowing industries from the state's other regions from using the Valley as a dumping ground for hazardous waste and pollutants.

State officials, too, must make sure that the millions of dollars raised by greenhouse gas allowance auctions flow only to disadvantaged communities.

Valley leaders must stop chasing polluting industries in the name of job creation.

Finally, City Hall must listen and address, however it can, a glaring health problem enveloping not just southwest Fresno but much of the city.

Otherwise, people who value life expectancy and can afford to move will head in droves to the eastern foothills. Or never consider living in Fresno.