New AQMD Rules on Particulates

So now we learn that the AQMD is implementing a new series of rules to limit road dust to help clear the air of particulate pollution. Great! But read on, because the Feb. 15 article acknowledges that road dust only accounts for at most a third of the particulate pollution in the L.A. Basin, the remainder being vehicle exhaust, especially from heavy diesel engines. It’s easier to eliminate the road dust than to inconvenience the transportation industry, you see.

But wait, there’s more! The article also notes that the new rules won’t actually do anything at all to help clear the air of the most insidious and damaging micro-pollutants that the EPA is demanding L.A. clean up.

Here we see a rare window into how the AQMD really operates. Observe: We must clean up a dangerous air contaminant, micro-particulate pollution. But that would require politically difficult regulation of a highly organized business community, the trucking, construction and railroad industries. So instead, we’ll put forward a set of rules that will cost ranchers and municipalities without actually accomplishing anything of significance. This way the AQMD can successfully create the impression that, since we’re inconveniencing people, then we must be getting the job done. Great work, AQMD.

CRAIG COLLINS

Los Angeles