Concerns Cross County Borders : San Diego: Smog from L.A. adds to area’s own. Strict commuter measures are proposed.

Every February, the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District issues its annual smog report card. And every year, that study blames much of the county’s serious pollution on Los Angeles.

Because Santa Ana winds often force Los Angeles air pollution south in the form of so-called “transport smog,” county officials explain, a smoggier Los Angeles inevitably means a smoggier San Diego. That linking of fates makes some officials edgy.

The county of San Diego, proudly autonomous from its larger, northern neighbor, has created an air quality district in its own image: fiercely protective of local control, but always quick to hold Los Angeles accountable. “San Diego is a big small town,” said Bob Goggin, an Air Pollution Control District spokesman who said transport smog from the South Coast air basin was responsible for about 70% of the days when San Diego exceeded federal air quality standards from 1987 to 1990. “It lives in the smog shadow of L.A.”

Aside from transport smog, however, the sixth-largest city in the nation has plenty of home-grown pollution as well. In a statewide tally of days exceeding the state ozone standard in 1989, he said, San Diego was second only to the South Coast Basin.

“If we were ever to rank metropolitan areas (for pollution), obviously the South Coast Air Basin is head and shoulders above everyone. But once you get below that, San Diego tends to weigh in pretty high,” said Bill Sessa, spokesman for the state Air Resources Board. “Their pollution problems, even if you eliminate the transport smog, are on a par with other metropolitan areas. . . .”

It is easy to think of San Diego County’s APCD as small when compared to the AQMD, which covers 13,350 square miles of the state’s most populous region. By contrast, the APCD spans only the 4,225 square miles bounded by Marine Base Camp Pendleton to the north, Mexico to the south, Imperial County to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west.

But an area’s air quality is defined as much by population as geography--and in that category, San Diego County is mushrooming. Continued growth will make the APCD’s role all the more vital, said Sessa, who described the reputation of the state’s southern-most air control district as “aggressive.”

Last month, for instance, in an effort to help reduce the number of drive-alone commuters, the APCD proposed requiring businesses to charge their employees hefty parking fees. The controversial proposal, which is similar to one being considered in Los Angeles, will likely come before the San Diego County Board of Supervisors this summer.

If it is enacted, businesses that fail to meet ridership targets through increased car-pooling and public transit could be forced to eliminate free parking or parking subsidies to their workers. Starting in 1994, those employers could be required to charge workers $50 a month to park even in company lots and by the year 2000, as much as $100. Companies would have to pick up the total cost of workers’ bus, trolley or other transit expenses.

As the APCD pushes such tough measures forward, it will help that Richard J. Sommerville is leading the charge. A physicist by training, Sommerville, San Diego’s air pollution control officer, is widely respected and well connected.

Over the last two years, for example, as the state has revamped its Smog Check automobile emissions monitoring program, an influential review committee has overseen the changes. Sommerville is the committee’s chairman.

As in most of the state’s 34 air pollution control districts, San Diego County’s Board of Supervisors serves as the APCD board (in contrast to the AQMD, which has a 12-member appointed board). But that fact alone does not ensure that local leaders are informed. Here, the APCD has another advantage: Because one of its board members, San Diego County Supervisor Brian P. Bilbray, also sits on the state Air Resources Board, he brings added depth and understanding to the table.

Fundamentally, if one issue illustrates how San Diego County’s APCD differs from the AQMD, the proposed merger of San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison Co. is probably it.

Despite an environmental impact report that found that San Diego’s air quality would improve overall if the two utilities merged, San Diego APCD officials have adamantly opposed the union.

The reason: The report said that if future smog alerts forced a slowdown at Los Angeles power plants, the merged utilities could offset that slowdown by firing up plants in San Diego. That kind of environmental interdependence, which links the air quality of Los Angeles and San Diego, is just what San Diego County has worked hard to avoid.