AFTER '95'S CLEAN SKIES, SMOG RISES IN SOUTHLAND.

Byline: Marni McEntee Daily News Staff Writer

If the San Fernando Valley has appeared a bit hazier this year, don't blame it on a dirty windshield.

After last year's record-breaking clean air, air quality officials say pollution levels rose significantly this year - mostly due to cloud-free skies and intense heat.

``We had a hot start,'' said Bill Kelly, spokesman for the South Coast Air Quality Management District. ``And last year the weather was not favorable toward smog.''

From Jan. 1 through Monday of this year, the AQMD issued 15 health advisories and two Stage 1 episodes, compared with five health advisories and no Stage 1 episodes during the same time last year.

Health advisories and Stage 1 alerts are issued when the level of ozone, which is the primary component of smog, exceed state or federal standards, respectively. Ozone pollution is formed when sunlight bakes a mixture of fumes from such products as paints or gasoline with nitrogen oxides from car exhaust and industry emissions.

During such alerts, the AQMD recommends that people avoid strenuous exercise, particularly if they already have health problems.

The increase in smog levels this year comes at a time when the AQMD is revising its Clean Air Plan for the Los Angeles Basin and ratcheting back on some proposed regulations, particularly rules aimed at cutting pollution caused by tiny particles of dust and exhaust fumes - the deadliest form of smog.

The decision comes as the district completes a two-year, $1.4 million study on particulate pollution, the first such study done, Kelly said.

At a meeting Thursday, AQMD staff members presented an outline of recommended changes to the Clean Air Plan to a task force of business, industry and environmental groups. The plan must be revised every three years.

Despite recent health studies and the district's own proclamations that particulate pollution is more unhealthful than ozone pollution, the district maintains that the new study indicates it can meet federal air pollution control standards without some stringent new rules proposed two years ago.

The revised plan outlined Thursday drops or defers 26 previously proposed rules that it says are either not technologically feasible or are not cost-effective, said district planning manager Mel Zeldin.

That means the AQMD staff has found that stricter measures on particulate pollution from sources like boats in port, aircraft and diesel trucks, aren't necessary. Also, tighter restrictions on dust at construction sites also are being dropped.

The plan retains seven control measures that it says will make up the difference to control particulates, such as limiting dust from paved and unpaved roads by using higher-tech street sweepers and cutting emissions from livestock wastes, woodworking operations, restaurants and construction sites.

But some environmental groups were concerned that the district's apparent backpedaling on tougher standards are the wrong tactic, particularly with more stringent air quality standards being considered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

``To slow down our programs and put measures on the shelf seems premature,'' said Tim Carmichael, policy director for the Coalition for Clean Air.

``The driving force behind developing new rules is improved science that (shows) standards are not adequate to protect public health,'' Carmichael said.

But Zeldin said even if new standards are imposed, the district would have three to six years to respond with more stringent control measures.

Particulate pollution - the microscopic specks that can lodge deep in the lungs - are blamed for the premature deaths of an estimated 5,600 people a year in Los Angeles, according to a report released in May by the Natural Resources Defense Council.