AQMD DEADLINE NEARS FOR FIRMS WITHOUT SMOG PERMITS.Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Daily News Staff Writer Business owners have until Tuesday to take advantage of a smog permit amnesty program or risk running afoul of a·foul of prep. 1. In or into collision, entanglement, or conflict with. 2. Up against; in trouble with: ran afoul of the law. air regulators. The South Coast Air Quality Management District The South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), formed in 1976, is the air pollution agency responsible mainly for regulating stationary sources of air pollution for most of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside County, and all of Orange county. is trying to bring more businesses in a four-county area of Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, into compliance with pollution control regulations. Businesses that do not get the necessary permits by April 2 could be assessed a 15 percent late fee in addition to fines, said AQMD AQMD Air Quality Management District AQMD Action Quake Map Depot spokesman Bill Kelly. The permits typically cost from $100 to several thousand dollars, he said, and not obtaining one could result in fines assessed on a daily basis. The amnesty program, under which the late fee and fines are waived, began Oct. 3. As of March 20, about 659 companies used the program, the AQMD said, and saved about $40,000 in late fees. But Abbas Raynard, owner of the Payless Smog Center in Westlake Village, is not a fan of the program. He had to pay $169 for a permit on an auto air-conditioner recovery system he rarely uses. Raynard said he applied for the permit after receiving a letter from AQMD. His was one of about 100,000 companies in 60 industries the AQMD contacted. ``I don't think anyone was ever aware of the fact that you needed a permit for that machine. It was news to me,'' he said. About 55 percent of the businesses applying never had obtained a permit from the AQMD. Of these, 94 percent were facilities emitting less than 10 tons of pollution a year. The bulk of the permit applications were for chlorofluorocarbon chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) Any of several organic compounds containing carbon, fluorine, and chlorine. A number of different CFCs have been made and sold under the trade name Freon. recycling units used by auto air-conditioning mechanics; internal-combustion engines internal-combustion engine, one in which combustion of the fuel takes place in a confined space, producing expanding gases that are used directly to provide mechanical power. , such as emergency power generators in office buildings; spray booths at auto body shops and other commercial painting operations; printing operations; and storage and plating tanks. |
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