Panel OKs Plan to Cut Use of Diesel, Gasoline : AQMD Strategy Aims at Replacing 400,000 Fleet Vehicles With Those Using Clean Fuel

Signaling a “new era in air pollution control,” the South Coast Air Quality Management District board Friday unanimously approved a far-reaching strategy intended to replace up to 400,000 diesel- and gasoline-powered fleet vehicles with those that run on cleaner-burning fuels or electricity beginning in 1993.

Approval of the clean fleet proposal--part of a five-year clean fuels demonstration program--came at the first meeting of the new 11-member AQMD governing board, which was sworn in Friday. The vote was 9 to 0. One member was absent, and the 11th has not been appointed.

Under the program, there will be 13 projects to test the viability of cleaner-burning fuels at industrial sites and 16 similar demonstrations in vehicular applications.

20-Year Goal

The district hopes the projects will speed the day when clean-burning fuels and electricity will be used in 40% of all passenger vehicles and 70% of all diesel-burning trucks. Officials said they believe that goal can be achieved within 20 years--by the year 2007.

The clean fuels program opens a new front in the AQMD’s fight to control air pollution in the four-county South Coast Air Basin, which is the nation’s smoggest. The basin includes Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Until Friday, most of the district’s efforts to control air pollution have involved technological controls on smokestack and tailpipe emissions, not the fuels themselves.

The vote came after AQMD Executive Officer James M. Lents exhorted the board Friday to act decisively in cleaning the air.

“I view the seating of this board as an historic moment in the long battle that has been waged against air pollution in this basin. It is historic because it ushers in not just a new era in air pollution control but a potentially decisive one,” Lents said.

AQMD board member Henry W. Wedaa, who Friday was elected vice chairman, said later, “I really think we’re going to do something this year. I think the tenor of the board has changed. Some people who really weren’t supportive of concerted, significant action are no longer on the board.” Wedaa represents Orange County cities on the AQMD.

The board was reorganized by the state Legislature last year and vested with new authority. Its membership dropped to 11 from 14, a move that cost some incumbents their seats.

Rules Due in September

Rules for enforcing the new clean fuels edict are expected to be presented in September and cover all public and private fleets with 15 or more vehicles, including public transit bus systems and rental car agencies.

It would cover between 200,000 and 400,000 fleet vehicles in the South Coast Air Basin, including 4,500 transit district buses.

Other provisions of the program approved in principle Friday but awaiting formal rules will require service stations to sell cleaner-burning methanol by the early 1990s. Methanol is less reactive than gasoline and forms 50% to 90% less ozone, the main component of smog, one official said.

The AQMD will coordinate such a requirement with the state Air Resources Board, which is tightening vehicle emission standards that one ARB official said Friday will hasten the day when auto makers are forced to build methanol cars in order to comply.

Beginning immediately, all new electrical turbines, internal combustion engines and co-generation units must use methanol as emergency backup fuel in place of diesel. The district said it is the first in the nation to impose such a requirement.

The AQMD also plans to present a schedule by May to phase out the use of diesel fuel in all stationary boilers, turbines and other equipment.

The district proposes to finance the $30.4-million clean fuels program with hefty increases in permit fees charged industrial polluters. The fees--which vary--could double, Paul Wuebben, program manager of the AQMD’s Office of Technology Advancement, told reporters.

Financing Plans

A $1 surcharge on motor vehicle registration fees, matching funds from private industry for demonstration projects and financial assistance from other government agencies will also be sought.

Lents warned Friday that the full implementation of the program will not be easy.

“I have no illusions as to what lies ahead,” Lents said, reading from a prepared text. “I know that regardless of the encouraging rhetoric and even the good intentions, the regulated community (business and industry) will continually and vigorously oppose essential rules.”

But, Lents declared, “This district has the mandate to take whatever initiatives are necessary, however forceful these must be, to get the job done--even if sometimes we must go it alone or tread into areas that others have considered sovereign.”

Lents’ tough talk drew praise from environmentalists--and a pledge from the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission.

“I like the way your new executive talks,” Jim Sims, a senior analyst with the commission, told the board. Then turning to Lents, Sims added, “I feel very much at home. Dr. Lents, you’re not alone in your efforts.”

Tom Cackette, deputy executive officer of the state Air Resources Board, also supported the clean fuels demonstration program, calling it a “major contribution to the advancement of clean fuels into the marketplace.”

However, Sims and a spokesman for the Southern California Rapid Transit District cautioned the board not to “lock in” methanol as the only acceptable cleaner-burning fuel. They added that costs must be considered as well.

As a practical matter, Cackette told reporters that the transit district will have to start buying methanol-powered buses beginning in 1991 because existing diesel buses will not be able to meet emission standards that take effect then.

Growing Uneasiness

It was clear Friday that there is a growing uneasiness among some business interests to Lents’ initiatives.

Most business representatives who spoke supported the clean fuels program in general. Michael M. Hertel of Southern California Edison supported the district’s mention of electricity as a clean-burning fuel.

Nonetheless, when asked if he saw an adversary relationship developing between the AQMD and business, Hertel said, “I’m trying not to view it that way.”

Hertel and Eyelyn F. Heidelberg of a pro-business organization said they are disturbed by some of Lents’ recent statements made during an interview with The Times and published last Monday.

Lents said he intended to put a stop to the AQMD staff negotiating with industry over new rules and bringing the compromises to the governing board.

“Our role is not to mediate everything before it gets to the board. The board’s job is to keep me from totally running amok. . . . If I’m getting too far off the mark, they need to rein me back in.”

Said Hertel, “I don’t think it’s wise for staff to be radical and the job of the board is to rein him in.”

Heidelberg, who represents the California Council for Environmental and Economic Balance, pointedly objected to Lents’ statement that “misinformation” was industry’s greatest weapon in defeating needed air quality rules.

“I think we are a little concerned with recent statements. They were pretty explicit,” she said.

In another action, the board established specific air quality goals that call for attainment of state and federal standards for carbon monoxide by Dec. 31, 1997, for nitrogen dioxide by the end of 1996, and to meet ozone and small particulate standards no later than the end of the year 2007. Previously, the goals did not contain a specific deadline.

There was no representative from Los Angeles during the initial meeting of the new AQMD board. Los Angeles County’s representative, Supervisor Mike Antonovich, was absent because of a previous commitment.

No representative has been appointed for the cities of Los Angeles County because the 85 cities have not been able to reach agreement on a board member.

Meeting Thursday night, the cities failed to break a deadlock after three ballots in a three-way race among Los Angeles City Councilman Marvin Braude, Rolling Hills City Councilman Thomas F. Heinsheimer and Baldwin Park Councilman Leo King.

The cities did agree to ask the state Legislature to restore the city of Los Angeles’ separate seat on the AQMD.

NEW AQMD BOARD The new South Coast Air Quality Management District board has 11 members. Under terms of the reorganization that took effect this month, the governor, the state Senate Rules Committee and the Speaker of the state Assembly each have one appointment to the board. In addition, each of the four county boards of supervisors in the South Coast Air Basin has an appointment. Another four board members will be chosen to represent cities in each of the four counties. The terms are staggered. The date their terms expire follows their names.

MEMBERS APPOINTED

Jack R. Witz, an engineer and former chairman of the Los Angeles Regional State Water Control Board, by Gov. George Deukmejian. (Term expires Jan. 15, 1991).

Larry L. Berg, a USC political science professor and previous board member, by Assembly Speaker Willie Brown. (Jan. 15, 1990.)

Sabrina Schiller, a clean air activist, by the Senate Rules Committee. (Jan. 15, 1992).

Norton Younglove, Riverside County supervisor and AQMD board chairman, by Riverside Board of Supervisors. (Jan. 15, 1990).

Roy Wilson, mayor pro tem of Palm Desert by cities of Riverside County. (Jan. 15, 1991).

Henry W. Wedaa, mayor pro tem of Yorba Linda and AQMD vice chairman, by cities of Orange County. (Jan. 15, 1992).

Mike Antonovich, Los Angeles County supervisor, by Los Angeles County. (Length of term not decided).

Carole Beswick, mayor of Redlands, by the cities of San Bernardino County. (Jan. 15, 1992).

Robert Hammock, San Bernardino County supervisor, by San Bernardino County. (Jan. 15, 1991).

Harriett M. Wieder, Orange County supervisor, by Orange County. (Jan. 15, 1990).

PENDING APPOINTMENT

Cities of L.A. County: (City representatives Thursday night again failed to break a deadlock among three candidates to represent them. They are seeking a change in state law to restore a separate seat for the City of Los Angeles.

Note: The original AQMD board had 14 members. The City of Los Angeles had its own seat and the counties of Los Angeles and Orange each had two representatives. Under the reorganization, Los Angeles lost its separate seat and Los Angeles and Orange counties were allotted one seat each.