EPA Warns Merger May Slow Effort to Clean Air : Utilities: The federal agency says it is concerned that the plan involving Southern California Edison and a San Diego utility will increase pollution.

The Environmental Protection Agency has warned that the proposed merger of Southern California Edison and a San Diego utility may delay Ventura County’s efforts to meet federal air-quality standards and result in “damage to human health, environmental quality, forests, crops and property.”

In a document made available Thursday, the EPA recommended that the state environmental review of Edison’s proposed merger with San Diego Gas & Electric Co. be redesigned to show that the merger may interfere with the area’s progress toward federal clean-air standards.

The EPA said it is particularly concerned by the merger’s potential to increase air pollution in Ventura County and other areas in Southern California by increasing production of electricity and pollution at Edison’s plants near Oxnard.

The state Public Utilities Commission, which has the authority to approve or deny the merger, has been studying the proposal’s environmental impact.

The PUC’s final environmental impact report was scheduled to be completed late last month. It has, however, been delayed until Aug. 10 so that consultants can respond to more than 200 comments from the public and governmental agencies, said Elaine Russell, supervisor of the PUC’s environmental section.

The PUC is expected to make its decision before Jan. 1, 1991, Russell said.

The cities of Ventura and Ojai will consider next week whether to endorse Edison’s plan. The cities of Simi Valley and Oxnard sent letters of objection about the proposed merger to the PUC, raising concerns about increased air pollution in the county.

“This is a major issue facing the city of Ventura and all Venturans,” said Ventura City Councilman Gary Tuttle, who asked that the measure be brought before the council.

Representatives from Edison, the Environmental Coalition and the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District will speak before the Ventura City Council on Monday. The Ojai City Council will hear the issue on Tuesday.

Edison proposes to merge its operations with San Diego Gas & Electric in a move that will save Edison $1.7 billion over 10 years. Edison plans to phase out older power production plants in the San Diego system and shift operations to newer plants in Ventura County and the Los Angeles region.

By increasing electricity production at its two Ventura County plants at Ormond Beach and Mandalay Bay, Edison would increase pollutants by an average of 200 tons a year over 18 years.

The increase in emissions would peak in 1994 when stepped-up operations would add 706 tons of nitrogen oxides to the county’s air. Nitrogen oxides are a main component of smog.

Edison said its emissions of pollutants would drop drastically to 67 tons per year in 1996 and drop again to 21 tons per year in 2007.

After 1995, under an agreement with Ventura County, Edison would compensate for its increased emissions by footing the bill for other companies to convert their gas or diesel engines to pollution-free electric motors.

That deal, drafted by the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District and approved by county supervisors, represents “what we felt was the best mitigation package we could get,” said William Mount, manager of the district’s planning section.

County officials say any increase in emissions in Ventura County is significant because the county is now under federal court order to clean up the air to meet health standards. By court order, the EPA is in the process of preparing a plan to help the county reach those standards.

The county must reduce emissions by 40% to meet the federal standards, computerized modeling tests ordered by the EPA revealed late last year.

EPA states in its June 18 document that the increased emissions from the merger could interfere with efforts to attain the standards.

The EPA also said it disagrees with Edison’s claim that the merger will bring a net improvement in air quality. That claim is based on combined emission figures for all of Southern California, from San Diego to Ventura.

But the air quality basins affected by the merger are “closed systems” and “geographically distinct,” the EPA states.

But Russell said the agency and the draft environmental impact report had already addressed the impacts on a region-by-region basis.