Environmental Activist Leaving AQMD Board

Larry Berg, longtime board member of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, announced his resignation Friday, saying he will begin a long-delayed sabbatical from his university professorship and lobby Congress to pursue new clean-fuel technologies.

Berg, a 54-year-old political science professor at USC, served on the AQMD’s governing board for more than 10 years and has been one of its most vocal and pro-environmental members.

Berg’s resignation is effective Aug. 31. Assembly Speaker Willie Brown Jr., who appointed him, has not named a replacement.

Berg has been a strident critic of industry, particularly oil companies and power utilities, and spent much of his tenure on the board promoting innovative anti-smog technologies, including a hydrogen-powered bus unveiled earlier this week. A Democrat, Berg often held long, rancorous debates with other AQMD board members, who are predominantly Republican.

In an interview Friday, Berg said he worries that the AQMD’s 12 board members are being lobbied more than ever by “very vitriolic and highly partisan and ideologic” opponents to cleaning the Southland’s air.

Also on Friday, the AQMD board again delayed a decision on a controversial proposal that would force 7,000 Southland businesses to reduce cancer-causing air pollutants. The board’s vote, first delayed last month, was postponed until November.

Board Chairman Henry W. Wedaa said the postponement--granted because one-quarter of the board members were absent Friday--will give the AQMD time to resolve some of the concerns of businesses and environmentalists.