Countywide

County Issue Will the county program to reduce car trips succeed in fighting air pollution?

Starting Nov. 1, Ventura County employers with 100 or more workers must develop plans to reduce their employees’ use of automobiles. Two deadlines for starting the program, referred to as Rule 210, have been missed.

Florence S. Taylor

Pacific Missile Test Center at Point Mugu liaison with Air Pollution Control District It will, as long as employers comply with the rule as they must. Ultimately, all employers in the county with 50 or more employees at a single work site must develop and submit plans to reduce motor vehicle ridership in order to meet Environmental Protection Agency and court mandates. Certainly, the Department of the Navy is prepared to cooperate and comply with these requirements. As a major employer and good citizen in the county, the Navy supports this effort to improve the environment for all of us.

Nancy M. Williams

Executive director, Ventura County Economic Development Assn. VCEDA has been actively working with the county Air Pollution Control Board on all levels of the air-quality management plan. Most industries here use state-of-the-art technology and their emissions are as tightly controlled as possible until new technology becomes available. We support the concept of Rule 210, because the largest single source of air pollution in Ventura County is from vehicular use. We have supported ongoing educational programs to encourage residents’ use of car-pooling, van-pooling, mass transit and other alternative means of transportation. But people have a love affair with the car in Southern California. To change our lifestyle is going to require a lot of education and/or financial incentives. Whether Rule 210 succeeds or not is going to depend on the employees seeing the benefits of trip reduction. A question is: How far can you go to enforce the program without violating individual rights? It will have to be attractive enough that it will be foolish for employees not to participate.

Carl Herman

Senior vice president, Simi Valley Bancard First Interstate Bank of Calif . Certainly I believe and hope the implementation of this kind of program in Ventura County will be successful in reducing air pollution and improving the environment. From what I know of these kinds of programs operating in other parts of California--for example, in Los Angeles--definite progress is being made. Many of these programs are relatively new, so there aren’t a lot of statistics or hard facts available yet, but it seems to me that any reduction in vehicle usage would have a positive effect on air quality. As I understand it, the larger employers in eastern Ventura County will be the first ones to develop and implement plans. Here at First Interstate, we have been deeply involved with this issue for well over a year and a half. We have participated with other employers and county and city officials in discussing the rule and its implementation. We hosted a meeting to talk about planning in cooperation with the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce, and a transportation management association is being formed in Simi Valley.

William Mount

Planning director, Ventura County Air Pollution Control District Yes. The Rule 210 program has great potential to improve air quality in Ventura County. However, it won’t happen overnight. It is going to take several years for the rule to be fully implemented. We also expect it will take time for employers to reach the goals specified in the rule. This is a brand-new program, which represents our first attempt to regulate the use of the automobile, not just the emissions coming out of the tailpipe. Emissions from motor vehicles account for about half the air-quality problem in Ventura County. Although cars are far less polluting today than in the past, traffic volume has grown tremendously. While population is growing at approximately 2% per year, vehicle miles traveled are growing at 5% per year. If people want clean air, they have to realize that a change in their driving habits is an important part of the solution.

Neil A. Moyer

President, Environmental Coalition of Ventura County The county is fortunate that Rule 210 is patterned after the South Coast Air Quality Management District Regulation 15. Because that rule has been in effect for three years, a lot of very useful plans have been developed by various companies and industries. Many of these plans can be used by Ventura County firms to accelerate such programs as ride-sharing and van-pooling among their employees. As far as the county government is concerned, the program that the South Coast district has been using should be very successful with county employees. If the county pursues this program vigorously, the county should have a very successful program with its own employees. Also, because a number of consultants have emerged in this field because of Regulation 15, Ventura County firms should be able to use their services and develop successful programs for their own employees.