AQMD TO PAY TO STOP FOULING POLLUTING VEHICLES WILL BE TARGETED.

Byline: Daily News

Owners of high-polluting vehicles will be offered incentives to fix or scrap their vehicles under a high-tech pilot project approved Friday by the Southland's air quality agency.

The $4 million project, which will begin next year, will use sensors and video cameras to identify high-polluting vehicles and their owners, according to the Air Quality Management District.

A system of remote sensors will be installed along some Southland roads - the locations will not be made public - that will emit beams of infrared light.

As vehicles pass through the light beams, tailpipe emissions will absorb some of the light, and a sensor on the other side of the road will enable a computer to calculate the vehicle's emission level.

At the same time, a video camera will take a picture of the vehicle's license plate, and the computer will log the plate number.

Using the data from the sensors, the owners of the dirtiest 1 percent to 2 percent of vehicles will be contacted.

To try to convince them to stop polluting, they will be offered $500 for repairs or $1,000 to take the vehicle to a junk yard.

Low-income households may also qualify for an additional payout of $2,000 if they choose to replace their vehicle with a used, certified low- emission vehicle.

Although fixing or scrapping the cars will be voluntary, AQMD officials say they expect the program to get rid of 1,000 to 2,000 high-polluting vehicles.

Facilities at community colleges will be used to test and repair the polluting vehicles, according to the AQMD.

Officials say the monitoring system is not intended to replace the state's biennial smog check requirement, but rather will detect gross polluters between smog checks.

According to William Burke, who chairs the governing board for the AQMD, so-called ``gross polluters'' are responsible for at least 50 percent of the air pollution from passenger vehicles, despite making up only 10 percent of the passenger vehicles on the road.

``For the first time, we will be identifying these gross polluters and giving motorists an incentive to repair or replace their vehicles,'' Burke said.

Funding for the project was made possible through a bill approved by the governor last fall that authorized the use of vehicle registration fees for various programs to reduce emissions from vehicles.

Of the $4 million, $1 million will be spent on the remote sensors. Another $1 million will be used to test and repair vehicles, and $1 million to pay for scrapping and replacing vehicles.

Depending on demand, an additional $700,000 has been earmarked for additional repairs, scrapping or replacement, and $300,000 is to be spent on public outreach and data analysis.

If the pilot program is successful, it's possible it could be extended, AQMD spokesman Sam Atwood said.