Hearings to Start on Barbecue Restrictions

Smog officials meet today to consider a measure that bans charcoal lighter fluid and pre-soaked briquettes in the Southland and forces residents to use cleaner methods to start their barbecues.

The regulation, if adopted, would force retailers and suppliers to pull smog-causing barbecue equipment off store shelves in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties beginning in 1992.

The proposal is one of more than 100 measures that the South Coast Air Quality Management District plans to impose over the next few years to clean up the region’s notoriously dirty air.

Southland stores would be allowed to sell propane and gas grills, electric charcoal starters, paper tinder chimneys, and some wood chips and starter gels--all products that emit no more than 0.02 pounds of pollutants every time the grill is started.

“These are all environmentally cleaner, more convenient and cheaper than charcoal lighter fluid, some of which evaporates into the air before you can strike a match,” said James Lents, the AQMD’s executive officer.

Lighter fluid and self-lighting charcoal could be sold under the proposed rule only if manufacturers change the formulas. The fluid, which is made from highly reactive petroleum products, releases four to five times more smog-causing pollutants than the proposed limit, according to an AQMD report.

The highly publicized proposal has been the butt of jokes by critics, including Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich, an AQMD board member, who once said, “Use a barbecue, go to jail.”

Despite popular misconceptions, back-yard barbecues would not be banned, and consumers would not be penalized. The options they can buy for starting their barbecues, however, would be restricted, and retailers and manufacturers who sell illegal products could face fines as high as $25,000 per day.

Air-quality officials say lighter fluid is a serious source of pollution. About two tons of hydrocarbon fumes would be eliminated daily under the rule, and as much as four tons on a typical summer day. That is equivalent to emissions of an average oil refinery, which is the largest industrial source of air pollution in the Los Angeles Basin.

The Barbecue Industry Assn., a trade group representing manufacturers, calls the pollution from grills insignificant and says the AQMD is overestimating the amount of fumes.

The AQMD’s public hearings begin at 10:30 a.m. today at 9150 Flair Drive in El Monte. From 9 a.m. until noon, the various barbecuing techniques will be demonstrated at a cookout in the AQMD’s parking lot.