AQMD Focuses on Dangers of Diesel Exhaust

Expanding its role into new territory, the Southland’s air pollution agency is crafting a sweeping strategy to reduce the health threat people face from breathing diesel exhaust and other carcinogenic chemicals polluting the air.

The ambitious plan, already under attack by the trucking industry, could lead to the nation’s first comprehensive regulations for battling airborne toxic substances. The South Coast Air Quality Management District board is expected to formally direct its staff today to complete work on the outline for new and revised rules, which would rival in scale the agency’s massive strategy to combat ozone, the primary ingredient of smog.

The Los Angeles Basin’s air ranks among the worst in the country for an array of pollutants linked to cancer and other serious health problems.

Because diesel engines--not factories--are blamed for most of the high risk, the AQMD is laying the groundwork for regulations, as early as next year, that would force some fleets of vehicles, especially trucks, to use alternative fuels rather than diesel. Over time, the regulations would affect many other industries.

AQMD officials originally intended to focus entirely on reducing toxic emissions from industry. But while searching for toxic hot spots last year, they discovered that the air throughout the region carries a high risk, largely because of diesel engines in trucks and elsewhere. It is apparently more dangerous to breathe the air next to a busy intersection than that next to an oil refinery.

The AQMD estimates that 1,500 of every 1 million residents in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties could be contracting cancer over a lifetime from breathing toxic chemicals. Diesel exhaust is considered so abundant and potent that it accounts for roughly three-fourths of that risk, according to the AQMD’s calculations.

“There’s clearly no silver bullet here,” AQMD Executive Officer Barry Wallerstein said, “so I decided we needed to take a step back and have an overall game plan. Diesel in particular must be highlighted as a risk.”

The AQMD has disclosed few details of what the new Air Toxics Control Plan will encompass. But Wallerstein told The Times that his staff is drafting a regulation--the first of its kind anywhere--that would require a certain percentage of some truck fleets to be powered by alternative technologies such as natural gas or electricity.

Many observers doubt that the AQMD--which has eased its attack on smog in recent years--has the political will to stand up to businesses blamed for toxic air pollution. Trucking companies and diesel engine manufacturers are among the most powerful lobbies.

“We would consider this a direct attack on the trucking industry,” said Stephanie Williams, environmental manager of the California Trucking Assn. “To run ahead and do this is not well thought out.”

Environmentalists Skeptical of AQMD

Local environmentalists also are skeptical of the AQMD’s motives in developing a far-reaching plan. They worry that it may be a delay tactic that will postpone strengthening rules that require industrial plants, such as refineries and aerospace factories, to reduce the cancer risk they pose in residential areas.

The AQMD’s goal is to complete the plan outlining specific regulations on toxics for a variety of industries and other sources within six months and begin implementing some of them next summer.

For three decades, the Southland’s air quality agency has focused on smog-forming pollution from businesses--so-called stationary sources--and has had little authority to tackle cars, trucks and other vehicles, which are regulated instead by state and federal officials.

And when it comes to toxic chemicals, the AQMD has long been leery of taking action. Previous board members were skeptical that the chemicals caused cancer at the levels people breathed them, and they worried about harming local businesses. The agency has implemented only one major anti-toxics initiative--a pair of rules adopted in 1994 and widely considered ineffective, that impose limits on the cancer risk that industrial plants can pose from toxic emissions.

Under the direction of AQMD board Chairman William Burke, there has been increased concern about the danger of airborne toxics. Burke, the first African American to serve on the board, wrote a 10-point “environmental justice” initiative that aims to protect poor and minority communities.

Wallerstein said that to implement part of the toxics plan, he intends to use an obscure, 12-year-old state law that grants the AQMD the authority to regulate public and commercial fleets of more than 15 vehicles. The fleet owners would have to start phasing in some alternative fuels as they bought new vehicles.

The fleet rule would be targeted for “early action,” coming before the board in the middle of next year, Wallerstein said, adding that it would start small and then grow if successful.

If adopted, the rule could be a powerful force promoting alternative fuel technologies. But it is likely to encounter strong opposition from trucking companies and other Southland businesses that operate fleets.

If the AQMD plan includes a truck fleet rule, “we would sue them. They don’t have the authority,” Williams of the trucking association said, calling it a violation of interstate commerce rules.

Under state law, the AQMD can only regulate fleets that “operate substantially” in the four-county Los Angeles Basin, and trucking companies here say the new rule would drive up costs and make them unable to compete with companies from outside the region.

“This would put the California carriers out of business,” Williams said.

She said the regulation would be so impractical that it would wind up being revoked, similar to an AQMD rule that once forced businesses to offer incentives for employees to carpool. Trucking companies say air quality officials should focus instead on providing more subsidies to help truckers voluntarily replace old, smoking trucks with new, cleaner ones.

Truck and bus engines that burn natural gas are already on the market. But there has been little incentive for truckers and others to try them because of the high cost of the engines and limited availability of the fuel.

Some Carrots, Some Sticks

Environmental experts have long argued about the best way to promote low-polluting technologies: Should government jump-start them by forcing businesses to gradually switch? Or should the free market, boosted by some financial incentives, reign? In recent years, state and local officials have focused on the latter, making most measures voluntary.

Wallerstein said the AQMD plan will try both--some carrots and some sticks.

“There are clearly niches where alternative fuel technology is not only available but efficient,” he said. “Airports come to mind as a timely area.”

Shipra Bansal, of the Los Angeles-based Communities for a Better Environment, said pushing the use of alternative fuels is important. But she said pollution from industrial facilities should be the top priority because the AQMD has “a really weak regulation” that is leaving people unprotected in Wilmington, Carson, Santa Fe Springs and other communities near large plants.

“I certainly don’t want to diminish the importance of [regulating diesel trucks], but we just don’t want [industrial pollution] swept under the rug,” she said.

AQMD staff and business groups have been debating for two years how to strengthen the cancer risk limit for industries.

Wallerstein denied that the toxics plan, which would include an overhauled version of the industry rule, will go easy on refineries and factories. The overhaul is scheduled to go before the board in June.

“This [toxics plan] is not intended to downplay any particular sector,” Wallerstein said. “It’s to paint an accurate picture of the problem.”

Cancer risk numbers have been the subject of intense debate for years. Trucking and engine companies question the validity of the science and say the diesel risk is exaggerated.

Unlike the situation with ozone, the AQMD faces no federal or state mandates to clean up toxic air pollutants. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has a national program that focuses on large industries. Last year, the California Air Resources Board declared diesel soot a cancer-causing pollutant and is trying to figure out how to reduce the threat.

“This would put the AQMD ahead of the curve,” said Felicia Marcus, the EPA’s regional administrator. “It is very encouraging.”

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Poison Air

An estimated 1,500 of every

1 million people in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties could be contracting cancer over their lifetime from breathing toxic air contaminants from vehicles and industry, according to the AQMD. Nearly three-quarters of the risk is linked to diesel soot.

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* Average cancer risk attributed to air pollutants

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*Mostly from automobiles

Source: South Coast Air Quality Management District