Long Beach Councilman Rex Richardson is the newest addition to the Air Quality Management District (AQM) board. The announcement was made Wednesday that he received 57% of the vote from leaders across the agency’s Western Region Cities which includes Long Beach, Compton, Cerritos, Santa Monica and Torrance among others. Richardson will be the only African-American on the board, and becomes the third elected in the agency’s history.
“I am honored to have earned the support from Mayors across the region,” Richardson said in a statement. “We are facing significant public health challenges, a climate crisis, and combating the worst smog the Los Angeles area has seen in decades.”
Richardson’s selection could be critical for Long Beach as the district moves to update its region-wide plan for regulating everything from trains, warehouses and airplanes in 2022.
Richardson championed Long Beach’s climate adaptation plan and a ballot measure that will tax oil production in the city with the tax revenue generated earmarked for climate-related equity causes in the city.
Richardson will start with AQMD in 2021.
