Air Quality Board Approves Revised Pollution Credit Policy -- Much to Critics’ Displeasure

Builders of major new power plants will be allowed to buy air pollution credits originally set aside for hospitals, schools and other essential services under a proposal approved Friday by the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

AQMD staff and energy company representatives said the measure could keep the air from getting dirtier by creating enough reliable electricity so that diesel backup generators would not have to be used because of power shortages. They argued that traffic lights and other items necessary for public health would be powered by the plants.

But numerous students, residents of cities where plants could be built and lawyers for environmental groups said already polluted urban areas would be hit hard by large new power plants, and they weren’t buying the public health argument.

“As an asthmatic resident of Huntington Park, it’s hard enough already breathing on the way to school,” said Ryan Perez, 17, who objected to a plant proposed in nearby Vernon. “You guys are supposed to make our air cleaner, not dirtier.”

Mayra Gonzalez, 16, of Southgate said, “We’ve got diesel trucks, refineries ... and now you’re adding these power plants. I don’t see how you can compare working lights to working lungs. I just don’t.”

Six plants -- in Industry, Carson, Vernon, Palmdale, Romoland and Victorville -- could be the first to benefit from the revised pollution credit plan.

The board refused community requests to deny the proposal or postpone action on it, noting that either course could stall or kill construction of plants in high desert places such as Victorville that want them.

But it ordered staff to return in January with proposals that could set sharply higher prices for offsets if a plant were proposed in an area already affected by industrial air pollution, or other measures that would discourage building them there.

But even board chairman William Burke, who proposed the sliding price scale, said he was not sure it would be legal.

AQMD Executive Director Barry Wallerstein said power companies applying for credits also would need to undergo rigorous permit reviews before a location was approved.

janet.wilson@latimes.com