L.A. Still the Nation’s Smog Capital : Ozone Level Triple U.S. Standard; San Diego Air Worsens

The Los Angeles area, retaining the dubious distinction of being the smoggiest metropolis in America, posted an ozone level of three times the national standard last year, the Environmental Protection Agency reported Thursday.

Spotlighting the nation’s worsening air quality, an EPA study found that the number of areas failing to meet federal ozone standards increased by 37 in 1988, bringing the nation’s total to 101. Ozone is a principal component of smog.

The EPA added San Diego to the list of 44 cities nationwide that failed to meet federal standards for carbon monoxide emissions in 1988. Although levels of carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas found in automobile emissions, have been declining at a rate of 4% nationwide over the past 10 years, the EPA found that San Diego and three other cities to have violated federal standards based on air-quality readings for 1988. In contrast, the air quality in 12 cities improved in 1988 to such a degree that they were removed from the list.

Rich Somerville, San Diego County’s air pollution control officer “has received the report and is working on evaluating it,” a spokeswoman said Thursday.

The EPA classified San Diego as “moderate” violator of carbon monoxide standards, noting that levels of the gas exceeded federal standards for two days last year. Under the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, cities can not exceed the standard more than once a year.

William G. Rosenberg, EPA assistant administrator for air, said at a press conference that high levels of carbon monoxide usually occur in cities with cold weather, but in the case of San Diego, traffic levels account for the high levels.

The EPA rankings will be used to direct city compliance with the federal Clean Air Act, which Congress is revamping.

The EPA also classified San Diego as a “serious” violator of federal ozone levels, a ranking which some environmentalists expected to be upgraded to “severe.” Under clean air legislation sponsored by the Bush Administration, serious violators would have until the year 2000 to meet federal smog regulations.

EPA Administrator William K. Reilly characterized the expanded list of violators as a “sharp increase” and used the occasion to call for adoption of tougher clean air standards. “The problem is immense. We must address it now,” Reilly said.

Areas exceeding the EPA standards would be subject to new clean air regulations proposed by the Bush Administration and now under consideration by Congress.

The Administration claims that the legislation would reduce air pollution in the nation’s smoggiest areas--Los Angeles, Houston, New York, and Chicago--to acceptable levels by the year 2010 through such measures as tougher car emission controls and alternative fuel programs. Other cities would be expected to come into compliance by the year 2000.

On the 1988 pollution roster, no other city came close to challenging the smog-choked skies of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, which includes Orange and Riverside counties.

In 1988, the region registered an ozone level of about three times the acceptable level established by the agency and exceeded federal air quality standards for 148 days, the EPA reported.

In contrast, second-place Houston posted an ozone level of about double the acceptable level and exceeded allowable smog standards for only eight days last year.

Los Angeles has posted the nation’s worst air quality since the EPA began monitoring smog levels in 1974, agency spokesman Christopher Rice said.

For a city to comply with federal standards, it must not exceed ozone limits for more than three days over a three-year period.

Officials in Los Angeles “have done more to reduce (ozone) levels than any other area in the country but I’m not sure peak ozone levels have gone down,” Rice said. But, he noted, “Los Angeles is making progress in the face of growth.”

Chicago joined Los Angeles, Houston and New York as the areas with the most severe smog levels last year.

In addition to Los Angeles and San Diego, other California cities that violated ozone standards in 1988 were Bakersfield, Fresno, Modesto, Sacramento, San Francisco, Stockton and Visalia. None were new entries on the list of offenders.