County Pleads for Delay in Adoption of Clean Air Plan

Business interests and Los Angeles County officials, warning of job losses and an economic downturn, stepped up their efforts Tuesday by calling for a 90-day delay in adopting a far-reaching clean air plan for the South Coast Air Basin.

The plea was issued by Supervisor Mike Antonovich in a press conference and was backed up hours later by a unanimous vote of the Board of Supervisors. It was the latest salvo in an increasingly intense effort to influence the outcome of a scheduled vote this week on the new air quality management plan that is intended to become a 20-year strategy for fighting smog in the basin.

‘Shocking Loss’

Flanked by the presidents of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and the business-oriented California Council for Environmental and Economic Balance, Antonovich deplored what he called the “shocking” loss of 55,000 jobs that is predicted by an economic analysis commissioned by the council. The study said the district’s proposal would cost $12.2 billion a year.

The estimate, which was assailed last week by the Air Quality Management District as misleading and “hastily prepared,” is in marked contrast to the AQMD’s cost estimate of $2.6 billion annually for controls proposed in the first five-year segment of the plan. The AQMD did not estimate the cost of controls that would take effect in later years because many of them depend on technology that has not been developed.

“We all agree we need a very aggressive program to clean the air, without harming our economies. The heavy hand of bureaucratic government throwing people out of work, harming our families, law enforcement and our communities is not the answer,” Antonovich told reporters.

Call for Action

At the same time, however, California’s two U.S. senators, Democrat Alan Cranston and Republican Pete Wilson, called for prompt action. Both warned that any delay in adopting the clean air strategy could penalize California with tougher standards when Congress rewrites the federal Clean Air Act beginning in January.

“It is imperative that my colleagues continue to be convinced of the good faith efforts by the South Coast to come into attainment under the Clean Air Act. Approval of a draft management plan will help send that signal,” Wilson said in a letter to the AQMD. “Failure of the board to approve a management plan will only bolster the arguments of those non-California skeptics who believe they know what is best for the Los Angeles Basin.” Cranston voiced similar remarks in a separate letter.

The warnings from both sides in the growing controversy come at a time when the decades-long struggle by smoggy Southern California to meet federal clean air standards approaches a potential turning point this week.

On Thursday the executive committee of the Southern California Assn. of Governments will cast an advisory vote on the plan.

On Friday, the most crucial vote is scheduled by the governing board of the South Coast AQMD, which will meet at 9:30 a.m. at the Board of Supervisors chambers, 500 W. Temple St.

No Prediction

Both sides said Tuesday that they could not confidently predict the AQMD vote Friday.

Business interests have been working hard to delay a decision for 90 days to allow time to review alternatives drafted by Southern California Edison Co. and Western Oil and Gas Assn., which represents major oil companies. They argued that their plans would reduce ozone pollution sooner and at less cost.

In addition, business interests said two new economic studies that predict job losses as well as air quality benefits should be thoroughly examined.

Ray Remy, president of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, said Tuesday, “We feel 90 days is hardly an imposition.” Remy also dismissed warnings that if the AQMD does not adopt the plan, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will impose its own plan. Remy said the soonest the EPA could act would be next April or May. “We feel by that time we’ll have the best plan for the people here,” Remy said.

300,000 Sign Petition

Remy said presidents and chief executive officers of major companies that employ 300,000 workers have signed a petition urging the delay. Among the companies opposing speedy adoption of the air quality plan, Remy said, are Southern California Gas Co., Northrop, Union Oil, McDonald’s, Lockheed, Pacific Telesis and Van de Kamp’s.

But AQMD Executive Officer James M. Lents, in an interview Tuesday, repeated his contention that no delay is justified. And he warned that the objections raised by business interests would not take 90 days to resolve, but as much as two years.

Lents said he has repeatedly reminded opponents that after the air quality plan is adopted it will be reviewed at least every two years and revamped every five years.

The calls Tuesday for a 90-day delay by Antonovich, Supervisor Deane Dana and Los Angeles City Councilman Robert Farrell were but the latest pleas for a delay.

Orange County Interests

Earlier, Orange County cities, concerned about proposed land use controls and costs of complying with other provisions, called for a delay.

Surveying the opposition, Mark Abramowitz, vice president of the Santa Monica-based Coalition for Clean Air, said Tuesday: “The big polluters and the vested interests are concerned that they’re finally going to have to clean up their act after years of polluting. If the plan passes this week, although we think it is flawed, it will represent a major victory for clean air.”

Years in the making, the proposed air quality management plan originally was scheduled to be approved a year ago. It has twice been delayed since then.

In the meantime, the EPA has taken the initial steps to impose its own clean air plan on the basin because the AQMD’s existing plan did not show it could meet federal clean air standards quickly enough.

Cost Under Consideration

At issue is the cost of putting the plan into effect, as well as changes in life styles in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Major new pollution controls on motor vehicles and stationary sources, including requirements for electric powered cars, buses that run on cleaner-burning fuels and land use decisions that place new residential developments closer to employment centers to reduce commuting are proposed by the plan.

Other examples include requirements for paints and solvents that give off fewer smog-creating fumes, tougher vehicle emission controls imposed by the state’s “Smog Check” vehicle inspection and maintenance program, new emission limits on diesel trucks and buses and the conversion of existing motor vehicles to cleaner-burning fuels or electricity. By the end of 1998, the district proposes that 40% of all cars and light- and medium-duty trucks, 70% of all commercial freight trucks, and 100% of all buses run on alternative fuels.

Ozone Fears

Currently, concentrations of health-threatening ozone at times are three times higher than the federal standard, even though the number of days that the standard is exceeded has declined because of existing air pollution controls. Concentrations of carbon monoxide and particulates are sometimes twice the federal standard.

If each of the specific control measures recommended for adoption in the next five years were adopted, there would be a reduction in emissions of five major air pollutants. Emissions of reactive organic gases and oxides of nitrogen, which are the major ingredients that lead to the formation of photochemical smog, would be reduced by 55% and 42%, respectively.

Carbon monoxide would be cut by 35%. Sulfur dioxide, a major cause of acid rain and acid fog, would be cut by 45%, and particulates that can bypass the human body’s defenses, lodge deep in the lungs and cause respiratory problems would be cut by 54%.

The second and third stages of the plan envision additional controls through the year 2007.