EPA Pitches Federal Aid to Clean County’s Air : Environment: Two Ventura gatherings hear why the government says it must impose a plan to speed efforts to meet federal health standards.

On a day so clear that beach-goers could see through the hole in Arch Rock at Anacapa Island 11 miles out at sea, air quality officials told area residents their air is so unhealthful they need federal help to clean it up.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials made the pitch to about 130 area business executives, environmentalists, concerned citizens and local government officers gathered during two meetings at the Ventura County Fairgrounds on Tuesday.

The EPA came to town to explain why the federal government must impose a plan on the county to speed efforts to meet federal health standards for clean air by the year 2005.

Despite extremely good air quality Tuesday, Ventura County’s air has violated federal standards on 13 days so far this year. The county is allowed only three air quality violations within three years before it exceeds federal standards.

The two meetings in Ventura were also planned to “begin the public dialogue” with residents and the EPA on what additional steps the EPA may take to reduce air pollution, said William Mount, assistant director of the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District.

“The relatively easy things have been done,” Mount said. “Now we have to look at the sources that haven’t been controlled. That’s why the EPA’s help may be beneficial.”

At present, cars and trucks still contribute about 37% of emissions of nitrogen oxides and reactive organic compounds, which mix in the presence of sunlight to form ozone, the primary component of smog. An enhanced smog check program in California along with new technology for clean fuel will continue to reduce vehicle pollution over time, EPA officials said.

But air quality officials may crack down on other sources of pollution for the first time. For instance, the EPA may propose new emissions controls on trains that rumble through the county, on farm and construction equipment, on ships that pass through the Santa Barbara Channel, and on pesticides applied to Ventura County crops.

Ships in the Santa Barbara Channel, along with local boat traffic to supply offshore oil platforms, contribute 15% of the nitrogen oxide emissions, according to local air pollution district estimates used by the EPA. Pesticides contribute an estimated 14% of the organic compounds.

But some audience members at the meeting challenged the data on which the new regulations will be based.

Ed Frost, manager of Oxnard Pest Control Assn., said research he conducted independently showed that the emissions caused by pesticides had been grossly exaggerated.

“I’m not down on cleaning up the air in Ventura County,” he said. “But it has to be done with accurate data and not assumptions.”

Earl McPhail, the county’s agriculture commissioner, agreed.

“Our opinion is that 14% is way out of line, not a little low or a little high,” he said, as EPA officials conceded might be the case.

A representative of Unocal challenged the figures on contributions from ocean shipping and a representative of the Building Industry Assn. also challenged the air pollution figures attributed to the building trades.

But David Howekamp, EPA regional director of air and toxics, said that everyone must cooperate to clean up the air. “Everybody is going to have to contribute to the effort,” he said.

The EPA hopes to release a proposed air cleanup plan by February and a final plan a year later. The goal is to reduce air pollution so the county no longer exceeds federal guidelines.

The EPA will work with the county’s air pollution district to avoid duplicating efforts, Howekamp said.

The EPA was forced to get involved in the county’s air pollution battles after the Citizens to Preserve the Ojai, an area environmentalist group, sued the agency in 1988.

The lawsuit stemmed from a requirement that all air pollution control districts in the country demonstrate that their jurisdictions would meet health standards by 1987. Ventura County, along with the South Coast Air Quality Management District that includes Los Angeles County and the Sacramento County air pollution district, issued plans showing that air quality would improve, but not enough to meet the federal health standards.

In a 1989 settlement to the lawsuit, the EPA agreed to issue a air cleanup plan for Ventura County within two years. But a federal judge subsequently ruled that amendments to the 1990 Clean Air Act no longer obligated the EPA to issue a plan.

The EPA was forced to get involved again after the Citizens to Preserve the Ojai won a reversal on appeal to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The EPA then appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which in February declined to hear the case, letting stand the appeal court’s ruling.

As a result, the EPA is now rushing to finish a plan by 1994. The plan would includes measures to reduce ozone pollution to .12 parts per million, the federal health standard.

But even that fundamental component of the planning process was challenged Tuesday by Lewis W. Mayron, a Thousand Oaks Ph.D. in biological chemistry who works as a medical consultant.

“That is too high,” Mayron said. “Lung damage occurs at .05 parts per million.”

FYI

The Environmental Protection Agency is soliciting comments and suggestions on how to reduce air pollution in Ventura County. Written comments can be sent to Julia I. Barrow, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 75 Hawthorne St. (A-1-2), San Francisco 94105, or faxed to (415) 744-1072.

Violations Air quality in Ventura County violated federal standards for ozone, the primary component of smog, on 13 days so far this year. Violations may occur in more than one city on the same day.

Location No. of days Simi Valley/Moorpark 8 Thousand Oaks 3 Ventura 2 Oxnard/Camarillo 1 Ojai 1 Fillmore/Piru 0

Source: Preliminary data from the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District