Interactive report

Get a close look at the Valley's air-quality problem with audio, video, animations, and an interactive quiz and game. You also can check the smog-test results of any California vehicle or light truck.

Listen to Bee staff

In a podcast, the reporters on the "Fighting for Air" special section discuss the pollution challenge facing the Valley.

Stories

Escaping smog

These families and people have left the Valley, blaming health problems caused by air pollution.

Graphics

What has changed in five years?

What's been done -- and what hasn't -- since The Bee's last air-quality special report.

Air now top concern

2002: Valley residents rate expanding population and urban sprawl as the biggest issues in a Public Policy Institute of California survey.
2007: Residents rank air quality as the Valley's No. 1 issue, as indicated by surveys in 2003, 2004 and 2006.

Farms make advances

2002: Dirty diesel engines are largely unregulated on farms. Officials are just realizing dairies are a major source of air pollution.
2007: Farm and dairy pollution controls take a leading role in the Valley's air cleanup, reducing more than 85 tons of pollutants per day.

Cleanup delays continue

2002: The federal Environmental Protection Agency approves local air officials' request to enter the Valley into the worst-offender category: "extreme noncompliance for the one-hour ozone standard." The move delays the district's cleanup deadline to 2010.
2007: The EPA is expected to accept Valley air officials' request for extreme noncompliance on the newer eight-hour ozone standard. The status will delay the cleanup deadline to 2024.

Some progress for Fresno

2002: The Valley's biggest city has not been represented on the air district board since 1994.
2007: Fresno will have a permanent seat on the board starting next year.

Technology still lags

2002: State regulators shun technology known as "remote sensing," which can sniff out the worst- polluting vehicles.
2007: State air officials continue to resist the use of remote sensing, saying it would cost too much.

Childhood asthma grows

2002: About 50,000 children in Fresno County are diagnosed with asthma.
2007: About 75,000 children in Fresno County have asthma.

Some areas clean up

2002: Parlier, Clovis, Sierra Sky Park in Fresno and Arvin record the most ozone violations in the Valley.
2007: The population centers in Fresno, Bakersfield, Modesto and Stockton have recorded far fewer violations. The problem spots are Arvin and Sequoia National Park.