Countywide : Two Named to Panel on Air Quality Rules

Two local businessmen have been named to a new regional panel charged with studying the impact of air quality regulations on the local economy.

The County Board of Supervisors this week appointed Hugh Fitzpatrick, an Irvine Co. vice president and transportation planner, and John E. McDonald, chairman of the board of PDA Engineering, a Costa Mesa software company, to serve on the panel.

They will be part of the 40-member Special Commission on Air Quality and the Economy, created in December by the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

The commission is scheduled to hold six public hearings in four Southland counties to take testimony from industry representatives on the effects of air regulations on the economy and the cost of compliance for small businesses and others in the business community.

Orange County’s public hearing is set for March 16 at 9:30 a.m. at the DoubleTree Hotel in Orange.

Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder is vice chairman of the commission. Each of the four counties represented in the Southern California Air Quality Management District also gets to appoint two representatives for the panel.

Wieder, who recommended the county’s two appointments, said in a statement: “Both Mr. Fitzpatrick and Dr. McDonald are recognized leaders in the business community who have comprehensive knowledge of the effects of air quality rules on the private sector. . . . I am confident they will be an asset.”