It’s no secret that pollution in our air, water and soil leads to a long list of unwanted health outcomes, from increased risk of cancer and heart disease to higher rates of childhood asthma and learning disabilities. That’s why protecting our communities’ health starts with strong environmental safeguards — and why San Diego voters must reject Proposition 45 this November.
Many San Diegans may not realize how bad our air quality can get. According to the American Lung Association’s 2026 State of the Air report, air quality in our region gets an F for ozone pollution (smog), a D for particulate pollution and a failing grade overall. In fact, the association’s data ranks our region as the fifth-worst region in the country for annual particle pollution.
What do these stark statistics have to do with Prop. 45? This ballot measure is designed to make it easier to build a long list of projects that put clean air, clean water, public health and wildlife habitat at risk. If Prop. 45 passes, it will be easier to expand sprawl housing into areas at high risk of wildfire, widen freeways and build data centers with less public oversight. With Prop. 45 in place, Californians can expect to see more pollution, more asthma, more emergency room visits and dirtier air and water.
It’s hard not to notice that federal efforts to weaken clean air and clean water standards have been rapidly accelerating since President Donald Trump was reelected. These changes leave our health and the natural environment vulnerable to a long list of toxic pollutants. Prop. 45 would further weaken critical protections for California’s air and water quality at the very moment we need our state laws to serve as a backstop to looser federal standards.
Weaker public oversight hits frontline communities the hardest. Neighborhoods like those already overburdened by diesel fumes because they are tucked up against Interstate 5 or located near existing industrial facilities are among those at the greatest risk if Prop. 45 becomes law. California families in these communities rely on a strong environmental review process to ensure corporate polluters take steps to limit the impacts of new industrial facilities on their air, water and good health.
Prop. 45 weakens the review process and curtails public oversight for many types of polluting projects, making it harder to secure those critical protections. It does so by handing more power to industrial developers whose main priority is protecting their own bottom lines.
Meanwhile, Prop. 45 does nothing to address the higher medical bills that come with more pollution, not to mention the higher electricity bills that often hit communities when data centers spring up. And while this measure will make it easier to build expensive housing on the outskirts of San Diego’s cities and towns, it will do nothing to streamline the affordable housing we need in city centers.
Prop. 45 will impose a heavy financial burden on our state and local governments. California’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office estimates cities, counties and other public agencies will spend $100 million or more a year simply to implement the measure. And the measure’s direct costs won’t stop there. With climate change intensifying, the more lenient standards under Prop. 45 will leave even more local homes at risk of wildfire loss.
Our region knows what it costs — in dollars and lives — to respond to and recover from such disasters.
Similarly, large-scale cleanups will inevitably follow when pollution becomes more commonplace under Prop. 45. The infamous, widespread lead contamination caused by the Exide battery recycling facility set the stage for the most expensive publicly funded cleanup in California.
To date, more than $750 million in our state tax dollars have been poured into the affected East Los Angeles communities, with more work to be done. This battery recycling facility is exactly the type of project Prop. 45 would cover.
With all these factors in mind, it makes perfect sense to see who is funding the campaign to pass Prop. 45. Data center developers, big oil, investor-owned utilities and other corporate interests are pouring tens of millions of dollars into the effort.
Meanwhile, more than 400 organizations are standing together to oppose it. The statewide League of Women Voters and California Professional Firefighters, the National Wildlife Federation and Surfrider Foundation, and local and regional groups like the Endangered Habitats League and the Cleveland National Forest Foundation all oppose Prop. 45. On the public health front, we are joined by the American Lung Association, the California Nurses Association and more in urging Californians to reject this harmful measure.
Please join us. Vote no on Prop. 45.
Drs. Vi Thuy Nguyen and Sabrina Perrino co-founded San Diego Pediatricians for Clean Air.
