‘Back on the Right Route’ to Fuel Efficiency and Clean Air

The South Coast AQMD and its Executive Officer James Lents will solve our smog problem with their clean air plan. Now perhaps they can work on the major economic and quality of life problems their plan will create.

Thousands of people will be thrown out of work as manufacturing moves to other states. Housing and commercial property will depreciate dramatically, jeopardizing both personal and corporate solvency. The tax base supporting the Los Angeles Basin and surrounding counties will be significantly eroded resulting in less services through government.

Secondary job cutbacks will result from the regional depression caused by the implementation of the clean air plan. Workers in service industries, the private sector and the public sector will be impacted.

Eventually those visiting the Los Angeles Basin will see little or no smog. Visitors will drive on streets and freeways that are free of congestion but will undoubtedly note that those streets and freeways are in a state of disrepair. While the air will be cleaner, the water supply will suffer since waste water facilities will lack the funding for proper maintenance and staffing.

Perhaps Lents and his staff should rethink their plan to shut down the commerce in the four-county area. Instead of spending large sums of money for the “Taj Mahal” being built for the SCAQMD in Diamond Bar, perhaps Lents and his group could invest the money in research that would offer a solution that is economically viable, or at least palatable.

LAURENCE MILLER

Trabuco Canyon