Polluter Gives $1.5 Million for Clean Air Fund : Environment: The 3M Co. of Camarillo earned the money on its recently disclosed sale of ‘banked’ pollution credits.

The 3M Co. of Camarillo, one of the county’s major air polluters, has donated $1.5 million to create a fund to improve air quality in Ventura County, company and county officials announced Friday.

The fund, which officials believe is the only one of its kind in the state, would provide cash for projects that could range from buying an energy-efficient bus for a nonprofit club to converting the area’s public transit system to clean-fuel buses.

The money would not be used to supplement the Air Pollution Control District’s $5-million annual budget, officials said.

The fund will be overseen by the nonprofit Ventura County Community Foundation, an organization founded in 1987 and governed by a board of 10 business representatives.

Supervisor Maggie Erickson Kildee, who announced the donation at a news conference in Ventura, called the 3M contribution “a new way of doing business.”

“I believe this demonstrates a great corporate commitment to environmental improvement,” she said.

Kevin Ruby, manager of 3M’s Camarillo plant, said the money is the proceeds from 3M’s recent sale of “banked” air-pollution credits earned more than five years ago. 3M earned the credits, held by the Air Pollution Control District, by reducing pollution-causing emissions beyond the level required by county regulations.

“Pollution reduction is good business,” Ruby said. The pollution that comes out of the smokestack represents wasted materials and dollars, he said.

Ruby said the company created the fund because of a company policy against profiting from the exchange of emission credits. In past years, the company has either banked the credits for later use or given them back to the county, he said. The company has returned 146 tons of emission credits, Ruby said.

“It seemed like a good opportunity to allow for the economic improvement of the county, which is also sorely needed,” Ruby said.

But area activists questioned both 3M’s commitment to the environment and the fact that the Air Pollution Control District policy allows companies to trade emission credits.

“3M claims their corporate policy is not to profit from emission credits,” said Neil Moyer, president of the Ventura County Environmental Coalition. “If so, they should have given the credits back to the county.”

Moyer said the sale of the emission credits to another company is merely shifting the pollution from one source to another. He also questioned the competency of a nonprofit organization’s board of directors to administrate anti-air pollution programs.

But officials at the state Air Resources Board, which oversees local air pollution control districts, praised 3M for donating the money.

“Anything that offers some help in reducing emissions is to be appreciated,” said Bill Sessa, spokesman for the board.

Friday’s announcement follows a disclosure earlier this week that 3M planned to sell 78 tons of banked emission credits to Procter & Gamble Paper Products Co. of Oxnard for an undisclosed price.

The proposed sale of the credits drew criticism from environmentalists who objected to 3M’s returning the emissions to the air.

The sale of the banked emissions was approved Friday as part of a permit to allow Procter & Gamble to expand its plant and double its production, officials said.

Richard Baldwin, who heads the county’s Air Pollution Control District, defended the district’s policy of allowing companies to bank emissions. The policy encourages businesses to reduce pollution at the earliest possible time to levels beyond those required by district regulations, he said.

And the sale of banked emissions always results in a net decrease of pollution, he said.

Companies must cut 1.2 tons of pollution-causing emissions for every ton of credit they receive. Credits that are being sold are further reduced when the district figures in considerations such as distance between the seller and the buyer of the credits. In the 3M deal, it sold 78 tons of credits, but Procter & Gamble will only be able to use 50 tons of credits, Baldwin said.

Officials said they hope the 3M donation will encourage other companies to contribute money to the air pollution fund.

But Baldwin said executives at other companies may not be inclined to donate money toward any organization that would help the Air Pollution District.

“They mostly complain about how I’m trying to take money from them because of the expense of complying with pollution regulations,” Baldwin said. In addition, most companies hold on to their emission credits, selling them only at great profit, he said.

Baldwin said 3M has been different. In 1989, the company began a program of voluntarily reducing emissions 70% beyond what regulations require by next year and reducing them 90% by the year 2000.

“Setting up the fund is just further proof that 3M is different from other companies,” Baldwin said.