Top Executive of Air Board Resigns

The top staff official of the state Air Resources Board has resigned, ending a 15-year tenure in which California led the world in setting pioneering and aggressive standards for cleaning up its air.

Under Executive Officer James Boyd, the air pollution agency took on auto manufacturers and oil companies with regulations that have dramatically reduced California’s smog. But the agency has been under attack recently from conservative legislators, and some staffers have complained that they were pressured by Gov. Pete Wilson’s office to ease up on influential industries.

Boyd’s resignation, effective Aug. 15, comes just a few months after the air board culminated a long, contentious debate by easing its mandate for mass production of electric cars.

Some observers and insiders say Boyd was gradually pushed out amid increasing political interference in decisions that used to be driven by his staff’s technical assessments. But others say Boyd simply felt it was time to leave after leading the air pollution agency through a highly successful era under three governors.

Sources close to Boyd said Tuesday that they don’t know if he was forced out or voluntarily left because he was losing some of his authority under the leadership of air board Chairman John Dunlap, an appointee of Wilson. Boyd was unavailable for comment.

In his resignation letter dated last week, Boyd, 57, said he is departing with “a mixture of sorrow, pride and anticipation” to pursue “the next stage of my career and personal life.” He has not revealed his plans but told Dunlap to feel free to “call upon me in the future as needed.”

“I have now reached a point in my professional and personal life whereby I recognize that this step is best for me, for ARB’s mission and for the men and women of ARB who have been family to me,” Boyd said in his letter.

Just before his announcement, the air agency underwent a reorganization in which several staffers who deal with the public and the press now report directly to Dunlap instead of the executive officer.

Crediting Boyd with “helping to build a world-class organization,” Dunlap said Boyd’s departure is amiable and that he did not pressure him to resign.

“Jim has done much to further the cause of clean air in our state. I’ve viewed him as a resource and a leader and he’s going to be sorely missed,” Dunlap said.

Dunlap said there was “absolutely no” disagreement between him and Boyd over air quality policies, including the electric car mandate.

Dunlap has consistently denied that the governor’s office is directing air pollution policies and said the staff still has autonomy and “the high level of respect it deserves.” Wilson in the past has said his aim is to rely more on business-friendly, consensus-building approaches to clean the air.

“There will be no sea change here at the board,” Dunlap said, adding that the board is staying on course with its plan to meet federal clean air standards in California within the next 15 years. A source on the board said the new executive officer will be named from the agency’s existing management team. A decision will be made at a July 25 board meeting in Sacramento.

Attorney Gail Ruderman Feuer of the Natural Resources Defense Council said Tuesday that Boyd’s departure, coupled with the threatened ouster of Coastal Commission Director Peter Douglas, shows “there is no room left in state government for people who think their job is to protect public health.

“These were the last two holdouts in state government of high level officers who saw their jobs as protecting the public,” she said.

But others say Boyd apparently left under his own power.

“I don’t see any evidence he was forced out,” said Sierra Club lobbyist John White. “I believe he thought it was time. The guy stuck with a job through four board chairs and three governors. Under his watch a lot of very good things happened.”

Boyd was hired shortly after the board required catalytic converters on cars and when the hottest debate was over smog control nozzles on gas pumps. That year, the Los Angeles Basin experienced 102 days of smog alerts compared with 13 last year.

Under Boyd’s guidance, the staff crafted progressively tighter emission standards for cars that were copied worldwide and substantially altered automobile technology.