Environmental Justice advocates in the San Joaquin Valley are breathing a sigh of relief, and satisfaction, after stopping a bill that would have exempted some oil companies from air monitoring requirements. The bill was aimed to help one company in particular, Kern Oil and Refining near the valley town of Lamont. AB 1299 started as a bill to fund volunteer wildlands fire fighters. But as the legislative session came to a close, the bill’s sponsor tried to push it through with a different purpose in a secretive legislative procedure known as gut and amend. A last-minute effort by citizens and environmental groups forced sponsors to drop the transformed bill. Vic Bedoian reports from Fresno.