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New Cars Could Help Cut Smog Problems : These specially certified vehicles meet low emission standards set by the EPA. Many are in showrooms now.

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SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Smoggy days got you down? Lots of folks are bothered, not just about their health. People are worried that many businesses in the county might have to move away or cut payroll because of possible expensive new rules to reduce smog.

Earthwatch has a solution for both concerns. A one-stop-shopping solution, in a manner of speaking: Buy a new car.

No, I’m not trying to sell an electric-powered car like the GM Impact you may have seen cruising around hereabouts and on display at the county fair. Those won’t be marketed for years. I’m talking about a type of standard gasoline-powered, ready-to-drive, name brand, locally available car officially certified by the state as TLEV--Transitional Low Emission Vehicle--and accepted as environmentally OK by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

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If enough of us buy such a car we can cut smog way back and maybe keep the federal government from slapping new restrictions on county businesses. Cars cause half the air pollution in the county, but less well-known is that local industrial firms are sitting ducks for federal air regulators who are under court order to mandate costly new technology--unless we can cut smog some other way. I suggest we save our lungs and our job base by switching to low-smog driving.

The California TLEV certification, awarded to certain new cars for the first time this year, may sound off-putting, but I suspect you’ll feel better if I use some of the names the manufacturers put on their cars: Cavalier, Corsica, Escort, Saturn, Skylark, Taurus.

Yes, while not many people were looking, Detroit and several foreign firms have actually made some cars that environmental regulators approve of. “The auto industry is going along with us,” said a spokesman for the California Air Resources Board, which sets environmental standards on cars sold here.

Since the 1994 model year began last September, Detroit has garnered TLEV certification for over a dozen gasoline-powered models. When you shop, ask your car dealer to point them out. They don’t look any different than regular cars. And the traditional fuel-efficiency stickers on new cars don’t really indicate whether the vehicle’s smog emissions are low.

Next year, the auto makers will roll additional smog-fighting models of well-known makes onto California showrooms. “In six years, the average new car sold in California will be 70% cleaner than the average new car sold here today,” the spokesman said.

Local consumer acceptance of these cars during the next few years could have good results. According to Scott Johnson, planning director for the Ventura County Air Pollution Control Board, it could mean a 50% or 60% reduction “from today’s vehicle emissions and be a big part of getting us off the hook with the EPA.”

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He went on to stress, “We’re going to have to make up the difference by driving low-emission cars or face extra taxes, driving restrictions or onerous controls on businesses.”

In response to this nationwide epidemic, a useful guidebook has been compiled by a Washington-based group, Public Citizen. “The Green Buyer’s Car Book” is a valuable supplement to the EPA’s annually published fuel-economy estimates.

Public Citizen, in a departure from the practices of its founder, Ralph Nader, turns the usual auto research results on their head. Instead of stressing who the worst environmental sinners are, it goes in search of those consumer products least involved with waste and toxic releases. It’s a buying guide, not a bashing guide.

Joan Claybrook, the group’s director, said: “What kind of car you drive determines whether your county meets healthy air standards or must limit driving, factories and commerce.” Almost every 1994 car is rated by its emissions and fuel mileage--even its recycling qualities.

Using figures from our state’s Air Resources Board as well as the EPA, the guide shows some surprising clean-air cars on the market. Saturn leads in the small station wagon category and the Olds Achieva in the compact category. But, predictably, the Geo Metro and Honda Civic are at the very top in overall eco-rating.

So, shop till the smog drops.

Details

* FYI: For a free copy of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency booklet on 1994 cars, “Fuel Economy Estimates,” contact a new car dealer of your choice or phone (800) 523-2929. For a copy of “The Green Buyer’s Car Guide” at $5 call (202) 833-3009, Ext. 302.

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