California Slashed Harmful Vehicle Emissions, but People of Color and Overburdened Communities Continue to Breathe the Worst Air

By Liza Gross

California has long had more cars on the road than any other state. As its population exploded in the first half of the 20th century, so did the number of drivers, particularly in Los Angeles. By the 1940s, exhaust from millions of cars, fumes from power plants and a booming oil industry shrouded the famously sunny city in a noxious brown haze that left Angelenos wearing gas masks on days they couldn’t see more than three blocks.