AQMD'S BROAD STROKE; AGENCY OUTLAWS LARGE NUMBER OF PAINTS.

Byline: Elizabeth Zwerling

Air quality regulators approved strict rules Friday that will ban many paints, stains and coatings in Southern California, prompting the industry to predict higher costs, business failures and a decline in paint quality.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District's governing board voted 8-1 to adopt the rule, with Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich casting the dissenting vote.

He described the rule as Orwellian and objected to an amendment that allows manufacturers to sell polluting products if most of their line is deemed clean.

``Why mandate a rule for the general public and exempt others?'' asked Antonovich.

AQMD staff and supporters said the rule is needed to help control smog as the population grows, but critics said the new paint is less durable and would have to be replaced more often, leading to more pollution. Drying paint, stains and other coatings are believed to create smog by the release of vapors called volatile organic compounds, or VOCs.

``Basically these types of paints are the single largest source of volatile organic compound emission outside of cars and trucks,'' said AQMD spokesman Bill Kelly.

The rule calls for the reduction to take place in stages, the first in 2002 and the final in 2006.

Manufacturers of paint have seven years to develop new products, including most house paints, sealers, undercoaters, quick-dry enamels and primers, roof and floor coating and stains.

According to one critic, the rule will drive up costs for thousands of retail paint dealers, tens of thousands of contractors and millions of consumers.

``We think it will outlaw 7,000 products,'' said Ray Robinson, executive director of the Environmental Legislative and Regulatory Advocacy Program, a Redlands-based group.

However, Ed Edwards, owner of Dunn-Edwards, Southern California's largest paint manufacturer, spoke in support of the rule saying his and other companies can create clean products that did not compromise quality.

Bowing to protests by the industry, AQMD staff amended the rule to allow manufacturers to produce some products laden with volatile organic compounds as long their total product line on average meets new required levels.

The AQMD presented research studies indicating that manufacturers could produce paint that is environmentally sound and durable.

They said that under the rule, VOCs released into the air should be reduced by more than 20 tons per day starting in 2002. Under current rules, an average of 59 tons of VOCs from these paint products are released into the air daily. During the summer, the average goes up to 68 tons.

But industry representatives criticized the district's studies, saying the results were laboratory- and not field-based.

``High VOC paint performs better than low VOC coating,'' said Yin Aye of Los Angeles-based Smiland Paint Co. She pointed out that emissions actually won't be reduced if low-VOC paint has to be applied more often.

AQMD Deputy Executive Officer Jack Broadbent, who presented the staff report, estimated overall additional costs at $58.3 million annually between 2002 and 2015.

Some industry representatives, however, estimate much higher costs and believe that such cleaner products will have a much shorter life when applied. Many said they have developed and tried to sell the lower-emission products, but the products are inferior.

The larger industries will benefit under this amendment; since they will be able to use more of the higher-quality, higher-VOC products, they will take jobs from the smaller companies, objectors said.

Antonovich described the rule as Orwellian, making ``some people more equal than others.''

But Kelly said the rule's seven-year phase-in should be enough time for all companies to develop clean, quality products. Smaller manufacturers may be allowed to apply for extensions if needed, he added.

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Photo

PHOTO Eli Ernesto Amayo paints the side of a building in downtown Los Angeles on Friday, the day the AQMD voted to ban many types of ordinary paints.

Nick Ut/Associated Press