Scrap Old Cars for Cleaner Air
Re “State Smog Battle Plan to Target Clunkers,” May 4: Kudos to the Schwarzenegger administration for proposing one of the most reasonable and long-overdue solutions to Southern California’s worsening air-quality problems.
Unreal as it sounds, roughly half of the region’s auto emissions are caused by a tiny percentage of pre-1973 “clunkers” that existing law exempts from smog checks and other emission controls.
But instead of using expensive “carrots” to entice gross polluters to buy more-efficient vehicles, how about getting out the “stick” for a change?
Forcing individuals, instead of society, to assume responsibility for their choice to drive a “classic” car is the only policy that will work.
As our air quality continues to worsen, isn’t it time we stopped indulging this car culture madness?
Tom Hogen-Esch
Northridge
Clunker cars have been and continue to be one of the main sources of smog in the L.A. Basin.
Fourteen years ago, Unocal launched a $6-million program called SCRAP (South Coast Recycled Auto Project) that removed over 8,400 pre-1971 cars from the roads and eliminated over 12 million pounds of pollution per year (about $1,000 per ton).
After giving each owner $700 and a ride home, we tested each car for its emissions and then crushed it before delivering it to a scrap-steel recycler.
The Department of Motor Vehicles cooperated in the program.
The average car scrapped had hydrocarbon emissions nearly 100 times greater than a new 1990 car model.
The cleanest clunker was eight times dirtier than a new car and the worst car emitted enough unburned gasoline to power a brand new 1990 vehicle.
Smaller cars, hybrids and engine maintenance will all contribute to cleaner air, reduced fuel consumption and, ultimately, to lower prices.
Scrapping old cars makes sense and is by far the cheapest way to get cleaner air. Gasoline excise tax revenues in California are over $2.5 billion each year.
Surely a small piece of that can be spent wisely on a program such as this.
Richard J. Stegemeier
Retired Chairman, CEO
Unocal Corp., Anaheim
