Smog Checks and Air Quality

This letter is in response to your editorial “Cleaner Cars, Cleaner Air” (July 20).

Certainly, no one would argue that we would have cleaner air if we have cleaner cars. However, those who are involved in formulating the new regulations, as well as those who are praising those regulations, are not considering the enormous burden that those regulations will have on people who can least afford it.

Obviously, the worst polluters are older cars that are almost exclusively owned by the poor and very poor. Those who are struggling to put bread on their tables are now facing possible expenses of $400 to $500 every other year. This would be the equivalent (economically) of assessing five to 10 times higher fees to those enjoying middle or higher incomes.

All would be fine if we could advise the poor, or near poor, to do away with their cars if they cannot afford the higher fees. However, with our miserable public transportation system in Los Angeles/Orange counties, it is nearly impossible to work or survive without an automobile.

The solution for the problem is already in the books, which, in essence, limits the expense that an owner of an older car must incur in order to prevent his or her car from emitting excessive pollutants.

WM. V. OTERO, Irvine