Air quality officials seek an extension

Air quality officials in the San Joaquin Valley, one of the smoggiest places in the nation, voted Monday to ask federal regulators for 11 additional years to meet ozone standards, saying the problem could not be solved with current technology.

The sprawling farm region faces a 2013 deadline for reducing ozone smog to meet federal standards.

The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District board voted 9 to 2 Monday night to ask federal authorities for “extreme” air status for the Central Valley, allowing it to receive an extension to 2024 to comply with the Clean Air Act.

“We have no legal options to do anything else,” said district spokeswoman Jaime Holt, adding that current technologies and funding levels are inadequate for solving the problem any sooner. The “extreme” air designation, the worst under the Clean Air Act, is not common, Holt said, but has been used in the past, including a few years ago in the Central Valley.

State and federal regulators, who must still review the extension and the district’s cleanup plan, suggested Monday that they would approve it.

The decision infuriated public health, environmental, religious and community groups.

“We’re very disappointed. It’s a tragedy. This has condemned Valley residents to breathe dirty air for an extra 11 years,” Liza Bolanos, of the Central Valley Air Quality Coalition, said after the public hearing in Fresno.

Scores of speakers argued against the extension, including several doctors who testified that ozone increases asthma and contributes to premature death from lung disease.

Industry groups, including dairy farmers and oil refiners, said that they were willing to do their part but that the Central Valley’s economy would suffer if the extension were not approved.

“We believe [the plan] is the expeditious, prudent choice in this time. We do not believe in stronger recommendations ... but we believe in clean air also; our families live here too, and we believe this board has to move forward,” said Tricia Stever of the Tulare County Farm Bureau, representing more than 3,000 farmers.

To meet federal standards by 2024, the air district staff proposed a plan that includes $20 billion in equipment replacement and other industry costs, and incentive funds for new technology.

The San Joaquin district had the second-highest number of ozone violation days in the nation last year, after Greater Los Angeles.

The decision was made the same day that the American Lung Assn. released its annual air quality report card.

It showed that although smog and soot pollution have improved in recent years across the country, Los Angeles and Riverside counties still have the worst overall air pollution in the nation.

janet.wilson@latimes.com