EPA Moves to Ban New Sources of Smog in L.A. Area

The Environmental Protection Agency said Monday that it will be forced to ban major new air pollution sources in greater Los Angeles as of Wednesday, a move considered largely symbolic because no such construction is planned immediately and because Congress is expected to extend the deadline soon for local governments to reduce ozone and carbon monoxide.

Nevertheless, government officials and clean-air advocacy groups said the construction ban in the four-county South Coast Air Basin is an important reminder that the air remains very dirty and that Congress, as well as federal and local agencies, have done too little to clean it up.

“There will be some psychological impact, certainly,” James M. Lents, executive officer of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, said in a telephone interview. “A lot of people may misinterpret the ban, thinking it applies to all construction, even housing.”

Worries Over Image

An aide to Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) suggested that the ban on new oil refineries and other major pollution sources will hurt Los Angeles’ image. “Who can get excited about touting the city’s virtues in the face of a construction ban?” asked the aide, Jim Burroughs.

EPA officials said a combination of congressional inaction and a court decision required that the ban be imposed Aug. 31 in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Greater Los Angeles is one of about 100 cities, counties and metropolitan areas that the EPA says missed last December’s deadline to meet health-safety standards restricting levels of carbon monoxide and ozone, a major component of smog.

By late October, similar bans may be imposed against Ventura County, Chicago and the northwestern Indiana area next to Chicago, the EPA said. Construction bans also could be triggered later in 10 other areas, including Bakersfield, Fresno and Sacramento, which are on the verge of having their air-quality attainment plans formally rejected by the agency.

However, sources said it is very likely that the Los Angeles ban will be lifted and that other bans will not be imposed if Congress acts soon to give local governments more time to meet clean-up plans.

Extension Pending

A House bill to reauthorize the Clean Air Act would extend the clean-up deadline by 10 years, a Senate bill by 20. Congressional aides predicted that Congress, which returns from a monthlong recess next week, will pass legislation before adjourning in October.

EPA Administrator Lee M. Thomas used a six-page press release announcing the imminence of construction bans to urged Congress to renew the Clean Air Act. “Failure to reauthorize the act could lead to many more sanctions on areas, as well as mandatory federal pollution plans and litigation, which will only further delay reaching the goal we all want--clean air,” Thomas said.

David Hawkins of the Natural Resources Defense Council said the construction bans highlight the need for the EPA to take more meaningful action.

The EPA is being sued by the Santa Monica-based Coalition for Clean Air to impose tougher clean-up plans on areas such as Los Angeles that are lagging. EPA attorney Richard Roos-Collins said the agency recently acknowledged such an obligation, adding that now the issue in a federal court is how fast to carry it out.