Study: Air pollution a problem in Salinas

3 a new map released by the california environmental protection agency shows high air pollution levels across the state! and you may be surprised to learn there are central coast communities on that list! but as central coast news reporter sydney daniel found out — it doesn’t necessarily mean we don’t have clean air. 3 3 0:26-0:300:27-0:431:02-1:07 *trt:1:50outcue:standard:*the old california epa maps were general and only measured the air pollution by zip code. that left out a lot of people at-risk of health effects at lower levels of air pollution. now, the new maps use census data for a better idea of who really is at risk. people like sylvia madrigal who has asthma. she finds that certain locations on the central coast seem to trigger her condition more than others. 37:18 for me it’s the valley living here in salinas or traveling anywhere within this area. it’s part of the reason asthma specialist dr. steven prager believes south east salinas made it to the map 35:53 these people tend to be around areas of higher pollution, factories, certain farm machinery, closer to the roads there is more diesel exhaustbeside salinas, an area regulated as it is now. and the hope with these new maps is to get more federal funding to areas that need it the most.