Readers React: What good is an air board that serves polluters?

To the editor: Growing up in Diamond Bar at the edge of the Inland Empire in the 1970s, I remember “smog days” at school, during which the air quality was so bad that we had to remain indoors during recess. For much of the year, Mt. Baldy was only visible when the Santa Ana winds cleared the air. (“Power grab topples another defender of California’s environment,” March 4)

Those of us who lived through that era often marvel at how far we have come even as we acknowledge we still have a long way to go.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District used to be considered an ally in that effort, but the recent decision by its board to fire longtime director Barry Wallerstein means we can no longer trust it. If the board has been co-opted by business interests, who will advocate for the health of ordinary residents?

If the air board will no longer fight for the health of our communities, then it has outlived its usefulness.

Derek Engdahl, Pomona

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To the editor: When I joined the then-Los Angeles County Air Pollution Control District fresh out of UCLA in 1952, it was battling with the then-Western Oil and Gas Assn. to prove that hydrocarbons from petroleum refineries and automobiles were indeed the prime cause for the county’s smog problem.

With great effort, the district finally won out and a reduction in smog had begun. Now, 64 years later, the Western States Petroleum Assn. has gotten its revenge.

With the firing of Wallerstein, air pollution control regulations will be relaxed and replaced by ones backed by oil refineries. This event came about with the ascendance of a Republican majority to the air board.

Can it be any more clear that Republicans favor bigger profits for major corporations over the welfare of the people?

Martin A. Brower, Corona del Mar

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To the editor: I agree with Steve Lopez that it is an outrage for the directors of both the California Coastal Commission and the South Coast Air Quality Management District to have been fired for doing their jobs.

However, in Lopez’s own words, “we still have some of the dirtiest air, thanks mostly to vehicle emissions.”

Lopez exposes his own hypocrisy and that of many of your writers and I’ll bet many of the people who spoke against the air board’s action. They all take part in the major cause of pollution (by driving) while attacking industry, the lesser cause. And then, these people attack industry for defending itself.

It’s a classic problem of “pure” democracy: The majority will vote for their own benefit at the expense of others.

Allan Baker, Morongo Valley, Calif.

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To the editor: We will continue having this crazy tug-of-war between business and community interests as long as polluters don’t pay the true price for their emissions and have our public health system pick up the tab.

We need a market incentive for cleaner air so businesses that make smart investments for the future have an economic advantage. We need a fee on air pollution nationally, a system that incentivizes energy efficiency and rewards those industry leaders who understand that good business thrives in the long run when the community thrives.

Isabelle Teraoka, Westminster

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