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Civic leaders honored for their contributions to clean air.
Release 10-21
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 25, 2010 			


Dimitri Stanich
desk 916-322-2825
cell- 916-3-716-8047
www.arb.ca.gov


Clean-air heroes recognized

California hails contributions made by three leaders

SACRAMENTO:  Today the Air Resources Board announced the winners
of the 2010 Haagen-Smit Clean Air awards, an annual celebration
to recognize outstanding efforts by individuals who protect
California’s air.

The 2009 award recipients are:

    * Dr. Timothy Johnson, Corning Incorporated – Dr. Johnson is
an expert and frequent speaker on diesel-emission control
technology and trends and was made an SAE (Society of Automobile
Engineers) International Fellow in 2008.  He was instrumental in
the development of the National Clean Diesel Program which is
successfully controlling pollutants from millions of legacy
diesel engines operating across the United States.  He is
currently the co-chair for the U.S. EPA’s Advisory Working Group
on Diesel Emission Control Retrofits.  Dr. Johnson is also a
member of the U.S. EPA Clean Air Act Advisory Committee, and the
U.S. EPA Mobile Source Technical Review Subcommittee.  Formerly
he served on the California Air Resources Board’s International
Diesel Retrofit Advisory Committee.  He recently edited the book,
“Diesel Filter Technology”, published by SAE International.

Johnson
ARB Chairman Mary D. Nichols with Dr. Timothy Johnson

    * Ms. Margo Oge, U.S. EPA – Ms. Oge has been with the U.S.
EPA since 1980 and made tremendous contributions to the area of
environmental policy.  Under her leadership the U.S. EPA
finalized three of the nation’s most significant environmental
accomplishments: the clean Tier 2 motor vehicle and Gasoline
Sulfur Program; the historic 2007 diesel truck, buses and diesel
fuel rule; and, the recently finalized clean off-road diesel
program.  These programs reduce more than 90% of the harmful
pollutants emitted from cars, trucks, buses, construction,
farming and industrial equipment and gasoline and diesel fuel. 
As a result these three rules alone are estimated to prevent more
than 22,000 premature deaths and thousands of respiratory
illnesses.  

Oge
ARB Chairman Mary D. Nichols with  Ms Margo Oge

    * Dr. John Peters, University of Southern California –Dr.
Peters is a leader in the area of environmental health research. 
Dr. Peters is the Hastings Professor of Preventive Medicine at
the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine
and Director of the Division of Environmental Health in the
Department of Preventive Medicine.  He is also an Adjunct
Professor of Epidemiology in UCLA’s School of Public Health.  In
his over 40 year career, Dr. Peters has published over 150
research papers, reports and chapters on subjects such as the
health effects of air pollution, vinyl chloride and other
chemicals in both the work and general environment.  He is the
principal investigator of the Children's Health Study, a landmark
epidemiologic investigation to identify chronic health effects
from exposure to air pollution in Southern California
communities, which has followed 11,000 children, for periods as
long as 13 years. 

“These three individuals exemplify the kind of concerted effort
needed to clean California’s air,” said ARB Chairman Mary D.
Nichols.  “Today we have the opportunity to thank them for their
service to public health.”

The awards are named after Dr. Arie J. Haagen-Smit, ARB’s first
chairman and known by many as the "father" of air pollution
controls.  Through a series of experiments beginning in 1948, he
found that most of California's smog results from photochemistry:
sunlight affects the exhaust of vehicles and industry to create
ozone.

For his discoveries, Dr. Arie Haagen-Smit received the National
Medal of Science in the Physical Sciences on October 10, 1973
from President Richard Nixon.

Dr. Haagen-Smit’s breakthroughs gave us the needed inroads to
combat smog, created the foundation for today's air pollution
standards and allow us to now enjoy the cleanest air in
California in more than fifty years.

The Air Resources Board is a department of the California
Environmental Protection Agency.  ARB’s mission is to promote and
protect public health, welfare, and ecological resources through
effective reduction of air pollutants while recognizing and
considering effects on the economy.  The ARB oversees all air
pollution control efforts in California to attain and maintain
health based air quality standards.

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