{"id":57097,"date":"2014-10-22T12:12:28","date_gmt":"2014-10-22T19:12:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=57097"},"modified":"2014-10-22T16:36:29","modified_gmt":"2014-10-22T23:36:29","slug":"avaqmd-board-seeks-governor-browns-assistance-to-keep-kinkisharyo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2014\/10\/22\/avaqmd-board-seeks-governor-browns-assistance-to-keep-kinkisharyo\/","title":{"rendered":"AVAQMD Board seeks Governor Brown\u2019s assistance in Kinkisharyo dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The AVAQMD letter claims there are important environmental advantages in keeping Kinkisharyo in Palmdale. (Click image to view the letter)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PALMDALE – The Antelope Valley Air Quality Management District (AVAQMD) board voted unanimously to send a letter of support to Governor Jerry Brown asking him to intervene to help keep Kinkisharyo International, L.L.C. from leaving Palmdale and building its permanent manufacturing facility outside of California.<\/p>\n

In the letter, signed by Board Chairman Marvin Crist, the AVAQMD Governing Board urged Governor Brown to “intervene in this matter to facilitate a resolution between Kinkisharyo and the local union backers of the potential challenge to ensure that this project can move forward in an expeditious fashion. Time is critical.”<\/p>\n

Recently, Kinkisharyo announced that due to potential California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) challenges, it would not be able proceed with the construction of a new light rail car manufacturing facility in Palmdale.<\/p>\n

However, in an attempt to stay in California, Kinkisharyo proposed to renovate an existing hangar in Palmdale, which is currently being used as the assembly site. Again, a CEQA challenge to the construction of a single paint booth was threatened in order to halt the project. This forced Kinkisharyo to look out of state for a site due to pressing contractual deadlines.<\/p>\n

The AVAQMD letter addressed a number of important environmental advantages in keeping Kinkisharyo in Palmdale. “Over 65% of the emissions inventory in the area is generated by mobile sources,” the letter stated.<\/p>\n

“Many of these mobile emissions are created by the commute patterns of area residents as they make their way to jobs within the South Coast Air Basin. Locating jobs such as those provided by a new Kinkisharyo facility within the Antelope Valley would help reduce pollution by reducing overall vehicle miles traveled as workers commute mileage and time decreases,\u201d the letter stated. Read the letter here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The AVAQMD Board also expressed concern about the use of the CEQA process for non-environmental purposes.<\/p>\n

“What should be a valuable tool for the review of potential environmental effects of a proposed project,” the letter stated, “has instead been turned into a method to delay decisions so that particular groups can extort concessions from the proponent, in this case a job creator. As far as air quality is concerned, the AVAQMD is certain that the environmental impacts of the proposed Kinkisharyo facility will be well within the parameters allowed by law and air district rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kinkisharyo announced earlier this year that it proposed to invest over $60 million to build a 427,507 square foot manufacturing and assembly facility in Palmdale. The project was expected to create hundreds of temporary construction jobs, as well as creating 300 permanent high-paying manufacturing jobs.<\/p>\n

[Information via press release from the Antelope Valley Air Quality Management District.]<\/em><\/h5>\n

–<\/p>\n

Previous related stories:<\/p>\n

Antonovich press conference calls on Governor to keep Kinkisharyo in Palmdale<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Plans for Kinkisharyo plant in Palmdale derailed by labor dispute<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Residents offer solution to Kinkisharyo to mitigate environmental concerns<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Kinkisharyo to build rail manufacturing site in Palmdale<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PALMDALE – The Antelope Valley Air Quality Management District (AVAQMD) board voted unanimously to send a letter of support to Governor Jerry Brown asking him to intervene to help keep Kinkisharyo International, L.L.C. from leaving Palmdale and building its permanent manufacturing facility outside of California. In the letter, signed by Board Chairman Marvin Crist, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":57100,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57097"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}