AQMD Needs More Clout to Clean Air, Study Finds

The South Coast Air Quality Management District will fail to achieve its 20-year goal to meet federal clean air standards for the basin unless it is given new powers and at the same time obtains firm commitments from cities, counties and other government agencies to help carry out proposed new air pollution controls, the state Air Resources Board staff said Wednesday.

In a long-awaited evaluation of the AQMD’s 20-year blueprint to return blue skies to the nation’s smoggiest urban air basin, the state also said that as much as $21 billion over the remaining 19 years in the plan will have to be spent on mass transit systems, diamond lanes and other transportation improvements that the district says are needed to clean up the air.

Currently, levels of ozone, carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide in the four-county basin exceed federal standards. Ozone, which reduces lung capacity, causes respiratory disease and damages plants, is often three times higher than the federal standard.

Called Unenforceable

Until the AQMD can demonstrate that all of the rules it proposes in the 20-year plan can be carried out, the state said the plan is legally unenforceable and therefore violates the federal Clean Air Act.

Urban areas that do not have a legally enforceable clean air plan are subject to a cutoff of federal funds for sewers and highways, as well as limits on construction of new businesses that would significantly contribute to air pollution.

The construction ban is already in effect in the South Coast Air Basin, which includes Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, but is having little or no practical effect because no major new polluters had planned to locate here.

For that reason, the Air Resources Board staff called Wednesday for dozens of additional local government actions, from ride-sharing programs and growth management to waste recycling and energy conservation.

In the meantime, the Air Resources Board staff has recommended that the state board approve the plan on the condition that the district take recommended actions to strengthen the plan. Despite its failing, the plan, according to the staff, is the “most comprehensive effort yet produced to address the South Coast Basin’s extreme air quality problems.”

The AQMD in approving its air quality management plan last March conceded that many of the proposed air pollution controls would require cooperation from cities, counties and state and federal agencies, as well as increased spending on transportation.

Set the Stage

The evaluation constituted the first official state analysis of the district’s air quality plan and set the stage for new efforts to strengthen its provisions to bring it into compliance with the federal Clean Air Act.

The state’s analysis is critical because the district’s plan must be approved by both the Air Resources Board and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. If either the state or federal government is not able to approve the plan, either one may attach additional controls to bring the plan into compliance with the federal Clean Air Act.

“We felt it was important to point to the things that must be accomplished if the plan is ever going to be able to achieve its 20-year clean air goal,” Air Resources Board spokesman Bill Sessa said in a telephone interview from Sacramento.

“Implementation of most transportation and land-use measures in the plan are the responsibility of local governments, which have not yet formally committed to their implementation,” the report said.

Tom Eichhorn, spokesman for the South Coast Air Quality Management District, said that air pollution controls that require cooperation from local governments account for about 10% of the total emission reductions envisioned by the 20-year plan.

Drastic Measures

But he said a 10% reduction in emissions could mean the difference between the plan attaining clean air standards in 20 years. If the 10% reduction in emissions does not come from actions by cities, he said the district may have to turn to more drastic measures, such as limiting the number of cars that residents of the four counties can register in the basin.

The state staff’s recommendations are scheduled to be taken up by the Air Resources Board at a 10 a.m. hearing on June 22 at the State Building, 107 S. Broadway in downtown Los Angeles.