The Smog Maker by the Bay

What would a Redlands resident say if Santa Monica motorists were exempt from the state’s stringent Smog Check II test because, with all those ocean breezes, Santa Monica has no smog problem? Right. He would say their exhaust gases just blow inland and become Redlands’ smog problem.

Well, the folks in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys feel the same way about the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area. Since the breezy Bay Area has no significant air pollution problem, motorists are subject to only the simpler old-style smog check.

Now the valleys are rebelling, citing studies that prove that the Bay Area’s pollution blows over the hills and into the inland region. Inland air districts have sued the state to force the Bay Area to adopt Smog Check II.

Valley lawmakers introduced legislation this week to require the Bay Area to adopt Smog Check II, in effect in Southern California and the inland valleys since 1998.

Smog Check II requires vehicles to be tested at various engine speeds for oxides of nitrogen on a treadmill device called a dynamometer. The test boosts the cost of the smog check by about $10. Generally, motorists have to get a smog check every two years, although new vehicles are exempt for the first four years.

Bay Area legislative leaders did not vow to try to kill AB 2637, introduced by Assemblyman Dennis Cardoza (D-Merced) and a bipartisan group of coauthors, nor did they give any indication of support. Bay Area officials often complain that the valleys have been slow to clean up their own pollution, including exhaust from farm vehicles. Even so, Smog Check II in the Bay Area could reduce smog-contributing substances by an estimated 14 tons a day in Sacramento.

There are regional differences in air pollution, but the problem of dirty air affects all Californians. The Bay Area should join the fight.