State’s Strict Smog Law Survives

California would be able to impose tougher anti-pollution rules on small engines used in machines such as lawn mowers, leaf blowers and chain saws under a congressional agreement announced Saturday.

The agreement between Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Christopher S. Bond (R-Mo.) ensures that California, with its distinctive smog problem, would still have a special exemption under the federal Clean Air Act to impose tougher rules for the small gasoline engines sold in the state. It would bar other states from enacting stricter regulations than the federal government, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would be required to draft a federal anti-pollution rule for the engines that would apply to the other states. California’s rules would be subject to EPA review to determine if they posed a safety risk.

Feinstein called the agreement “a major victory for California.” And Bond, concerned about the economic implications of imposing strict emissions standards in other states, declared, “We finally won the battle to keep California from imposing its very risky regulation on small engines that would have cost 22,000 American manufacturing jobs.”

Some Washington lawmakers have expressed concern that if California is allowed to set its own rules on such issues as emissions standards and financial privacy, it could lead to other states to follow suit and -- as one lawmaker put it recently -- “it becomes California setting national standards.” Indeed, a statement released Saturday by Briggs & Stratton, an engine manufacturer, said that under the agreement, “California will be able to address pollution control without setting a costly de facto standard for the rest of the nation.” At the same time, the company said, the legislation would pave the way for EPA to pursue national standards to “ensure that every state has cleaner air without causing U.S. job loss.”

Bond, the influential chairman of an appropriations subcommittee, earlier this month attached to a spending bill a “job protection” measure that would have given the federal EPA sole authority to regulate engines smaller than 50 horsepower. However, House and Senate negotiators earlier this week stripped Bond’s measure out of the spending bill after lobbying by Feinstein, the administration of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and key California House Republicans who said it could cost the state federal highway funds if California is unable to reduce smog.

But Bond threatened to hold up another spending measure unless his concerns were addressed, leading to negotiations Friday night. The compromise now will go into a spending measure, expected to come before the full House and Senate before the end of the year.

Bond has contended that California’s proposed anti-pollution rules could lead other states to enact similar regulations, forcing Wisconsin-based Briggs & Stratton, which operates engine-manufacturing factories in his state, to close and take thousands of jobs overseas, “most likely China.” Thomas Savage, Briggs & Stratton’s senior vice president of administration, said in an interview Saturday that with California accounting for 6% to 7% of the market, the company should be able to produce outdoor power equipment that meets the stricter standards for California alone without closing down plants but will still need to look for economies.

Asked Saturday on Capitol Hill if his efforts don’t go against his support for states’ rights, Bond said, “It’s not a question of states’ rights. It’s a question of whether the federal government [enacts] a federal rule that takes into account the concerns of the entire nation or whether we get held hostage by a bunch of a bureaucrats in Sacramento.” Bond said the compromise protects the environment with a mandate for the EPA to enact a stricter emission standard for the small engines.

California’s smog problem, at its root, is a dilemma of too many people, too many motor vehicles -- especially trucks and sport utility vehicles with low fuel efficiency -- and massive industries with too few pollution controls, air quality experts said.

In Los Angeles, 70% of the air pollutants are emitted by cars, and air quality officials have not seen zero-emission vehicles and alternate fuels materialize as quickly as they expected.

Ozone, the main component of smog, is formed in the air when emissions from tailpipes, smokestacks, paints and household chemicals mix with sunshine; the colorless gas can cause a host of health problems, including scarred lung tissue, headaches, aggravated asthma and long-term loss of lung function.

A commercial juggernaut, the state’s busy ports and ships, along with airports, aren’t subject to stringent pollution controls, experts say.

Rapid suburban growth is causing the worst ozone far from urban areas in places like the San Bernardino Mountains and the Santa Clarita Valley. Suburban sprawl means more homes, businesses and traffic -- all smog sources.

Feinstein has called the new anti-pollution rules crucial to the state’s strategy for meeting federal air pollution standards and protecting the health of Californians. Small off-road engines are a significant source of air pollution in the state, she said in a statement. State officials warned that if Bond had succeeded in blocking the California rule, it could have resulted in 170 more tons of smog-forming emissions daily, a 4% increase in total emissions statewide.

Feinstein said she regretted the provision that would bar other states from following California’s lead but “had to agree to it” because Bond was holding up a critical spending bill.

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Times staff writer Hector Becerra contributed to this report.