AIR QUALITY DEADLINE LOOMING STRONGER PUSH EXPECTED TO CUT POLLUTION IN AREA.

Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer

Struggling to meet federal smog standards by 2010, air quality regulators said Tuesday they need to convince motorists to drive cleaner- burning cars and consumers to eliminate pollutants from their lifestyles.

With new estimates showing that automobiles emit nearly 40 percent more pollution than previously thought, and a deadline looming to cut the two key components of ozone by 530 tons per day, officials are looking at new, more creative ways to reduce smog.

``Time is running out; we need to move quickly,'' said Elaine Chang, deputy executive officer of planning for the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which released a draft of its smog-reducing plan on Tuesday.

The proposal includes tighter controls on refineries, truck stops and industrial facilities, as well as polluters outside the agency's usual purview - those emitted by paints, gas-powered leaf blowers and even aerosol hair sprays.

There will be a continued focus on vehicles, which number 10 million and are the primary source of Southern California's smog problem.

``Motor vehicles have to be controlled to a point they haven't been before,'' said Barry Wallerstein, executive officer of the AQMD, which has considered campaigns to convince motorists to retire polluting cars and buy cleaner-burning vehicles.

The AQMD also wants stricter regulation of ships, trains, airplanes and construction equipment, with smog fees paid by these sources helping fund pollution-control measures elsewhere in the Los Angeles Basin.

The problem is that just 25 percent of the basin's smog comes from the factories, power plants, gas stations and other stationary sources of pollution under the AQMD's jurisdiction.

The remaining 75 percent comes from cars, trucks, trains, planes and boats, which are regulated by state and federal air quality agencies that don't face the same deadlines and pressure to clean up smog.

So local leaders are lobbying state and federal air regulators to help out.

``We've knocked politely in the past,'' Wallerstein said. ``This time we'll knock louder and be more insistent that they help us.''

The AQMD is asking the California Air Resources Board and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take responsibility for reducing pollutants from sources under their jurisdictions.

California Air Resources Board spokesman Richard Varenchik said his agency is limited to statewide measures involving passenger cars and consumer products.

``We're certainly willing to sit down and talk about proposals this triad has,'' he said of the AQMD and EPA.

EPA Air Division Director Jack Broadbent said the AQMD cannot legally assign pollution-cutting tasks to the federal agency, which sets emissions limits for interstate vehicles, such as planes, trains and boats.

``We think we can put in place some programs that will reduce these emissions,'' Broadbent said. ``Whether that will be enough remains to be seen.''

Until recently, AQMD officials have been fairly confident the region would meet the 2010 deadline to cut ozone. However, recently, the state produced new estimates of automobile emissions that are much higher than previously thought.

Cars and trucks contribute 20 percent more volatile organic compounds and 39 percent more oxides of nitrogen than the district banked on. Those two pollutants form ozone in sunlight.

Wallerstein said he still expects the region to meet the 2010 deadline, although it will be difficult.

To meet the ozone standard, the region has to cut pollution to no more than one health standard violation in a year. While air in the Los Angeles region has improved, the district still violated the ozone standard 49 days in 2002 and ranks among the worst air in the nation.

Ozone can weakened breathing, increase lung inflammations and has been linked to increase hospital admissions. Children are especially susceptible to the pollutant and recent studies have shown that active children in smoggy areas are more prone to develop asthma.

Ozone isn't the only pollutant the region is struggling to control. The district has to cut particulate matter, a form of pollution formed from soot and dust, by 2006. The AQMD expects to face a 2014 deadline to cut fine particles, a pollutant formed from soot and chemicals.

IF YOU GO

-- A workshop on the AQMD's Draft 2003 Air Quality Management Plan will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday at the Airtel Plaza Hotel, 7277 Valjean Ave., Van Nuys. The plan also can be viewed at www.aqmd.gov/aqmp/03aqmp.htm.

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IF YOU GO (see text)