Blast of Fresh Air

The history of Los Angeles’ effort to clean up its smog is long and winding; sometimes progress, sometimes a stall. But a government settlement announced last month puts this region on the cusp of tremendous advances and could set an example for other cities.

For the first time, air quality officials and environmentalists have come together on a tough, precise course for cleaning up smog in the Los Angeles region over the next decade. The agreement, settling a long-standing lawsuit, guarantees major reductions in air pollution and sets firm deadlines for carrying them out each year through 2010. It commits the South Coast Air Quality Management District to specific cleanup measures, many of them controversial. They are aimed at a variety of pollution sources, including oil refineries, aerospace plants and restaurants, and target a range of household pollutants, from paints and solvents to char broilers.

There is no room for backsliding; only under special economic or technological conditions can the AQMD weaken the outlined rules or ease the deadlines. Any changes must be matched by measures that are just as effective in cutting smog.

The settlement still requires approval by the federal judge who handled it, which is likely. Pollution rules for cars, trucks and other mobile sources, which account for most of this region’s smog, come under state jurisdiction and are governed by separate agreements.

The accord on stationary sources comes after years of litigation pitting environmentalists against business groups and air pollution regulators and after years of backsliding by lawmakers in Sacramento. Meanwhile, air pollution in the Los Angeles Basin has steadily declined under existing smog rules for vehicles, industries and consumer products.

Los Angeles still remains out of compliance with the air quality goals set in the federal Clean Air Act. Last month’s agreement, now supported by some of the very business groups that have long battled the AQMD and environmental groups, will finally allow Los Angeles to meet those goals, and this year, for the first time, Houston, not Los Angeles, wins smoggiest-city-in-the-nation honors. Can we be clearer than that?