Air Quality

Dr. James Lents’ Opinion article (“Businesses Running Away From Smog,” Sept. 16) overlooks well-documented records of departed and departing business firms published in The Times (May 14) and other distinguished journals, and flies in the face of projected job losses due to air quality regulations prepared by the staff of the South Coast Air Quality Management District (April 19 and July 30).

SCAQMD staff reports project 3,000 additional job losses from two of the 160 district regulations published to date. Using a $400,000 mathematical model of 1,237 equations, district staff has estimated 1,500-odd job losses per rule. Projecting their analysis to the remaining 158 rules would suggest at least 240,000 direct jobs lost, plus an additional 720,000 indirect and induced jobs lost due to the multiplier (ripple) effects.

A closer look at the model analysis reveals that only capital-intensive industries have been studied by the AQMD model so far; it should be extended to labor-intensive industries.

The public deserves more careful work from the $100 million per year being spent by the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

WILLIAM T. HUSTON

Chairman

Community Air Quality Task Force

Los Angeles