Clean Air’s Future

California is tightening up on smog this year with more vigor and grit than the state has seen since the 1960s. Not to be outdone, Detroit is rolling back its own clock and getting ready to fight whatever might help clean up the air.

Its latest target is a bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Byron D. Sher (D-Palo Alto), that would commit the state to 5% annual cuts in air pollution. There has not been a stronger call to action since California discovered smog.

Much of the new regulatory authority that the Sher bill would extend statewide already exists in Southern California under a law sponsored by Sen. Robert B. Presley (D-Riverside). The authority is being used about as fast as regulators can write regulations.

But the Sher bill also would put all of California on the same timetable for cleaning up its air and compress the time available for meeting standards. At present, Southern California expects to prevail in 20 years, cutting pollution by an average 3.5% a year. Sher’s goal of 5% improvements would speed things up. Having passed the Senate, the bill is in conference en route to Gov. George Deukmejian.

There was another jarring note on clean air, but it was meaningless. The federal Environmental Protection Agency, under court pressure to correct its own lapses, advised Southern California not to build any more big new polluting plants--a warn-ing just for show. The South Coast Air Quality Management District would not dream of certifying a new refinery or power plant anyway.

Because the federal agency imposes such sanctions when a state is not working hard enough to clean up its air, California could ignore it in good conscience, except for what the American automobile industry has in mind for the Sher bill.

After sitting silently while the bill passed both chambers of the Legislature, Detroit plans to lobby for a veto because each auto company would pay up to a maximum of $4.5 million a year for tests to certify that its cars meet state pollution standards. The governor’s Finance Department also will oppose the bill, arguing that government cannot afford clean air even though all money needed for the Sher program would come from user fees.

Japanese automobile firms are raising no obstacle; they seem to care less about money, or more about America’s air, than their Detroit counterparts do.

Thus the governor must decide what future clean air has in California, and whether Detroit has a right to dictate not only how pure California’s air should be but also how clear its conscience.