Check Out Smog Check II

Here’s good news: The South Coast region had 121 stage one smog alerts 20 years ago and just one so far this year. Meanwhile, the average new car today creates only about 1/10th the pollution of its 1977 counterpart. In spite of millions of additional residents and autos, Southern California’s air is the cleanest it has been in decades.

These facts come to us from Californians for Clean Air Progress, an organization of government agencies and private firms formed this year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of California’s pioneering air pollution law.

Of course, not all the news is so rosy. More than 90% of Californians live in areas that fail to meet federal ozone standards, the coalition reports. Of the 10 smoggiest cities in the United States, eight are in California. For Los Angeles to meet federal air standards by 2010, pollution must be reduced by 65%.

Where can that 65% be found? Much of it must come from the 15% of autos--mostly older models--that produce more than half of all the remaining motor vehicle smog.

Enter Smog Check II, the often reviled state program that was revised by the 1997 California Legislature to reduce the impact on poor people, who are often the owners of the smoggiest cars and cannot afford the repairs needed to bring them into compliance.

The new rules do not go into effect until March, but the Department of Motor Vehicles will begin sending out registration renewal forms next month that advise motorists what Smog Check actions they must take before they can receive their 1998 license stickers.

One of the most controversial facets of Smog Check II remains in the law: a requirement that the worst-polluting vehicles be checked at one of the state’s new test-only centers, facilities that do not do repairs and are untempted by “quick fix” solutions or the desire to help out a regular customer. If a vehicle fails, the owner must take it out for repairs and then return to the center for a new test.

These conditions will be inconvenient and will anger many motorists. But gross-polluting cars must be dealt with if the state is ever to have healthful air.

Confusion will be avoided if motorists read the DMV registration forms carefully as soon as they arrive in the mail. This will not be the year to toss the envelope into a drawer until a few days before the expiration date.