Clean-Air Deadline Tightened; Edison Fears ‘Brownouts’

A South Coast Air Quality Management District hearing panel Wednesday modified a compromise reached with Southern California Edison Co. that had promised to end the firm’s long-standing opposition to a far-reaching clean-air plan for the Los Angeles Basin.

The four-member hearing panel said the compromise was far too lenient in giving Edison and other electrical utilities until 1999 to meet tough new emission limits on nitrogen oxides. The original deadline was 1993.

Instead, the panel called for a Dec. 31, 1996, deadline, which prompted warnings from Edison of possible “brownouts” caused by shutting down power plants in a shorter time period to install the emission controls.

The proposed emission control rule is a key element in the district’s drive to bring the South Coast Air Basin into compliance with federal clean-air standards by the year 2007. It covers emissions of smog-forming nitrogen oxides from power plants, one of the key ingredients of photochemical smog.

Goes to Full Board

The panel’s recommendation now goes to the full 12-member AQMD governing board, which is scheduled to take up the issue in August.

Final approval by the full board of the tougher timetable could rekindle Edison’s opposition to the 20-year clean-air strategy, possibly resulting in a protracted lawsuit.

But, while court action is “always an option,” Edison environmental affairs manager Michael M. Hertel said Wednesday, “I’m not threatening it.” Hertel said Wednesday’s action will require additional evaluation.

“I don’t see how we’re going to meet it (the 1996 deadline) and still meet reliable power supplies,” Hertel said.

Board member Larry L. Berg quickly dismissed the threat of brownouts. “I don’t feel we have made a (recommendation) which will produce a brownout,” said Berg.

The original compromise was announced April 18 and endorsed by AQMD Executive Officer James M. Lents after behind-the-scenes negotiations. Both Edison and AQMD Deputy Executive Officer Pat Nemeth hailed it at the time, saying it removed a major obstacle to implementing the district’s clean-air strategy for bringing the four-county basin into compliance with federal clean air standards.

But, board member Henry W. Wedaa said Wednesday, “The board feels he (Lents) was too generous in his compromise with Edison.”

38% Reduction in Cost

Edison had estimated the compromise would cut its compliance costs from $800 million to $500 million, a 38% savings. Even with the savings, the average homeowner’s monthly electrical would increase about 1%.

But stepping up the deadline to 1996 could be “at least as expensive” to Edison as $800 million, state Public Utilities Commission policy analyst James E. Hendry said Wednesday. The higher cost would increase electrical bills 3% monthly.

During the public debate before the clean-air plan was approved last March, Edison was one of its leading opponents. The plan calls for tough new air pollution controls on electrical utilities, petroleum refiners, consumer products and even life style changes that could affect how people get to and from work.

The basin, which includes Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, currently exceeds federal clean-air standards for ozone by three times the permitted levels. The basin also exceeds federal limits on carbon monoxide, particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide.

Edison spent millions of dollars developing and lobbying for an alternative proposal, but publicly dropped its opposition while negotiating behind the scenes for some kind of compromise.

Environmentalists had charged the compromise resulted from illegal “back room” dealing and on Wednesday, they renewed their attack on its provisions.

“The need for (nitrogen oxide) reductions is unchallengeable,” said Gladys Meade of the American Lung Assn. of California. Meade said federal law calls for attaining clean air standards “as expeditiously as practicable.”

In exchange for the extended deadline, Edison had also agreed to a slightly more stringent limit on nitrogen oxide emissions. But because it would take longer to reach the standard, twice as much nitrogen would be pumped into the atmosphere in the next 10 years, Meade said.

Hertel argued that at the end of the 10-year period, NOX emissions would be cut by 77% as compared to 73% under the original timetable. Hertel also said all of Edison’s generating units would be fitted with additional air pollution controls to cut emissions from 35% to 90%, depending upon the type of controls placed on each unit.

During the hearing, both Edison and the AQMD staff argued that extending the deadline for emission controls to 1999 would put the utility in a better position to replace existing units with ones that are cleaner and more efficient.

Shortening the deadlines, they cautioned, would force utilities to place additional pollution controls on older, inefficient units instead of replacing them.

With the panel’s action Wednesday, Lents was put on notice for the first time since assuming leadership of the district in 1986 that the governoring board, and not the staff, would make the rules.

“The staff may have agreed to something with industry, but that does not mean this panel or the full board has to go along. We are the policy-makers,” board member Sabrinia Schiller told the hearing.

Lents said, “I always told them (Edison) I didn’t have those guys (board members) in my back pocket.”