Analyzing the Drive to Achieve Clean Air

“Air Particles Linked to Cell Damage” (April 7) contrasts painfully with “Rewrite of Emissions Rule May Roll Out More Hybrids” (Business) in the same issue predicting the demise of the zero-emission vehicle and California’s ZEV clean-air mandate in favor of fossil-fuel burners -- and for the worst of reasons.

In specifying the expected performance for zero- and very-low-emission vehicles, the state’s description tied clean air to fuel efficiency. This gave a pack of lawyers from Detroit an opportunity to torpedo the whole program because the federal government alone has the sacred right to specify fuel economy requirements. And what a fine job they’ve done!

Robert Siebert

Orange

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Re “Renewable-Energy Lifestyle,” letters, April 5: The comments from Jerry Counts are off the mark. Electric vehicles are a technology that could allow many in Los Angeles to get around without any significant air pollution. I drive an electric vehicle every day that is powered from the solar array on my home’s roof, generating no air pollution in the process.

Numerous studies, however, have shown that electric vehicles charged from the electrical grid create far less air pollution than what comes from the tailpipe of a typical gasoline car. Counts also does not consider that the pollution is not restricted to what comes out of his car. Gasoline has to be refined from oil in large polluting refineries. The next time he drives the 405 Freeway through Carson or Torrance, I’d suggest that he take a look around and ask who is exporting pollution to his or her neighbor.

Mike Kane

Newport Beach