Air Quality Board Schedules 4 Public Forums on New Pollution Controls

The South Coast Air Quality Management District takes its case for tough new air pollution controls on the road Saturday when the first of four public forums is held in Santa Monica.

The district is soliciting public comment on a 20-year strategy to bring the four-county South Coast Air Basin into compliance with federal clean air standards by the year 2007. The forums will focus on growth management, mobility, housing allocation and air quality.

The strategy could shape life styles in the South Coast Air Basin well into the next century, AQMD Executive Officer James M. Lents said.

Already the AQMD is requiring large employers to develop ride-sharing programs for workers and has embarked upon a $30.4-million plan to encourage the conversion by the year 2007 of 40% of all passenger cars and 70% of all freight-carrying vehicles to cleaner fuels.

Task Formidable

Studies by the Southern California Assn. of Governments, which is co-sponsoring the forums, indicate that the task of bringing the nation’s smoggest air basin into compliance with federal clean air standards will be formidable. To meet the 20-year goal, hydrocarbon emissions must be reduced by 75%, oxide of nitrogen emissions by 48%, sulfur oxides by 78%, carbon monoxide by 35% and fine particulate matter by 56%.

“Reducing emissions more than we have to date will be difficult because most of the easy and less-expensive measures have already been used,” according to a booklet to be distributed at the forums. It added, “In the future, we will need to use just about every control measure we know of, and some that have yet to be developed.”

The air district’s strategy, known as an Air Quality Management Plan, will be released June 30 for public hearings, and is scheduled to be adopted by December.

Plan Must Be Approved

After the smog district adopts the management plan it must be approved by the state Air Resources Board and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. However, Lents said that many of the pollution controls called for in the strategy would be put into effect before final approval by state and federal authorities.

Saturday’s forum is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, located at Main Street and Pico Boulevard.

The other forums are:

- Riverside County: May 4 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at UC Riverside, Watkins 1000, 900 University Ave., Riverside.

- Orange County: May 7 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Golden West College, Forum II, 15744 Golden West St., Huntington Beach.

- San Bernardino County: May 10 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the multipurpose room of the County Law and Justice Center, 8303 N. Haven, Rancho Cucamonga.