ORANGE COUNTY VOICES : Rights Respected as Air Is Cleaned : In carrying out its task of protecting the public, the AMQD must take care not to trample the freedoms of individuals.

In keeping with the 200th anniversary of the Bill of Rights, government agencies must renew their commitment to the individual as they seek to protect the whole. In no case is this more challenging than in controlling air pollution in Southern California.

Air pollution needs to be controlled for community health. Medical evidence shows that smog causes permanent lung damage and may be linked to cancer.

One study shows a 10% to 15% loss of lung function among young adults who have grown up in Southern California. Overall, up to $20 billion a year of health benefits could be realized in our region alone by cleaning up our air.

Recognizing the health toll, both the U.S. Congress and California Legislature have recently adopted strong clean-air laws requiring the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which includes Orange County, to clean up the worst pollution in the nation.

But as AQMD seeks to carry out these laws, it increasingly must deal with the millions of Southern California residents who drive cars, use consumer products and run small businesses. These seemingly minor actions--when multiplied by 13 million residents in our air basin--cause most of our pollution.

Motor vehicles, for instance, emit half of smog-forming pollutants. Large smokestack industries account for 18% of smog-forming pollutants.

To cut emissions by the 80% needed to achieve healthful air, AQMD must address these and other, small sources of pollution. Air pollution is a basinwide, communitywide problem. Its solution requires widespread community interest and support.

The First Amendment provides for “the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

In my five years as an AQMD board member, I can assure you there has been robust use of First Amendment rights to influence and alter clean air policies and rules. Moreover, the First Amendment has paid off for those who use it.

Most recently, the region’s labor unions petitioned the AQMD board and won the right to appeal unfair ride-sharing plans required of employers under AQMD’s Regulation XV.

In 1990, small business owners organized and petitioned AQMD’s board for a reduction in air pollution fees and won.

The Eighth Amendment prohibits the government from imposing “excessive fines.” When it comes to those who violate clean air requirements, the state Legislature has decreed that AQMD can seek fines of up to $25,000 per day per violation, but in reality AQMD rarely seeks or gets that amount.

Only 15 of more than 7,400 cases recently analyzed brought fines of $100,000 or more, and those involved some of the area’s largest industries. The vast majority of cases, just under 5,000, involved fines of less than $1,000, many as little as $50.

So the Bill of Rights is alive and well when it comes to air quality policy. AQMD changes course when warranted.

To improve its service to the community of individuals who make up our diverse society and economy, AQMD now is implementing major reforms in the way it regulates businesses.

The objective is still to clean up the air, but at the same time provide businesses some relief from burdensome regulations. To this end, AQMD is:

* Speeding up air pollution control permits so that most businesses will not have to wait more than 30 days before opening their doors or expanding their operations.

* Placing greater emphasis on education in enforcing air quality regulations--meeting companies in the classroom rather than in the courtroom.

* Easing the regulatory burden on small and medium-size businesses.

* Improving our customer service through staff training and evaluation.

The AQMD wants residents to participate in developing and carrying out the actions needed to clean our air. Not only is it our right to express our ideas, criticisms and protests, it’s our responsibility. And we know that unless we assert our rights and responsibilities, AQMD’s policies will prove unworkable. And another generation of Southern Californians will suffer the ravages of unhealthful air.

Thanks to this participation, AQMD is making progress and enjoying the cleanest air on record since pollution measurements began in the 1950s.