OK, it's hardly earth-shattering news -- the Valley got dissed again by a state agency. But it is a disappointment.

Regional clean air advocates had hoped to persuade the state Air Resources Board to increase the Valley's slice of Proposition 1B money designated for mitigating pollution caused by the movement of goods around the state. The ARB staff allotted 55% of the swag to the South Coast air district, and only 25% to the Valley -- despite the fact that the Valley and South Coast have nearly identical records of failure to meet clean air standards, and despite the fact that among the four "trade corridors" identified in the staff report, the Valley endures 45% of the truck traffic.

In the end, it was too much to ask the ARB, which is not exactly weighed down with scientists and technical experts and is dominated by Southern California and Bay Area interests, to buck its own staff's recommendation.

To be sure, the $250 million the Valley will get in this allocation is welcome. A larger share would have been more fair. But we've learned not to hold our collective breaths waiting for fairness from the state.