CA: SoCal plan would seek 50 percent drop in smog to meet rules (by 2020)

ap on Riverside Press Enterprise ^ | 10/10/06 | AP

[NormsRevenge]

DIAMOND BAR

Southern California would have to cut smog emissions in half by 2020 to meet federal clean air standards, according to a proposed plan released Tuesday.

Regulators with the South Coast Air Quality Management District unveiled the draft blueprint for cleaning up what it called the worst overall air quality in the nation.

It called for tightening pollution standards on everything from cars to lawn mowers, providing incentives for businesses to replace aging diesel equipment, and reducing pollution from ships at the sprawling Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex.

"We need a no-holds-barred campaign to meet the formidable challenge of achieving clean air," Barry Wallerstein, the AQMD's executive officer, said in a statement.

The plan addresses clean air issues in all or parts of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. It contains nearly 60 ideas for reducing emissions. But many changes would require approval from state or federal regulators.

It must first go through a public comment period and win approval by the AQMD board.

The plan is an update of the latest plan passed in 2003.

The new version is intended to meet federal emissions standards for fine dust, grit and other particulate matter known as PM-10 by 2015, and ozone over an eight-hour period by 2021.

The region could face sanctions such as losing federal transportation funding if it continues to violate smog standards after that.

"We're talking many, many billions of dollars," AQMD spokesman Sam Atwood said in an interview.

Port pollution has received a lot of attention from the AQMD, which said ships, trucks, trains and cargo-hauling equipment at the docks produce an estimated 100 tons of nitrogen oxides daily more than all the cars in the region.

The region's air has violated federal standards on 86 days so far this year. In 1976, it exceeded federal standards for more than half the year.

While air quality generally is better, improvement has slowed since the late 1990s, the AQMD said.

Recent steps to reduce emissions by tightening regulations have faced court challenges.

Earlier this year, the Association of American Railroads and two railroad companies sued the AQMD, claiming it overstepped its authority by setting rules to reduce smog from locomotives.

In March, a state appeals court upheld an AQMD rule requiring refineries to reduce the amount of smog-forming emissions the facilities release into the air.

[samadams2000]

First they came for your car.......

[Names Ash Housewares]

"First they came for your car......."

They'll have to catch me. ;)

[kittymyrib]

1. All Californians should walk. This would double as a cure for obesity.

2. Outlaw all trucks.

3. Close LAX.

4. Close those nasty shipyards.

That should fix the smog problem.

[Amerigomag]

For those who have not been to Mexico City recently, the solution proposed is the best available under the circumstances of a lack of national or state leadership with local leadership working overtime to exhasorabte the problem.

This proposal may also help focus the debate on the underlying cause. How much sacrifice will the natives tolerate before they rise up and say; "Go home, today!"?