AQMD cuts cost to business of complying with anti-smog rules.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District is considering a replacement for the carpool rule which would allow employers to opt out for almost half the current cost.

The AQMD would allow employers to "buy out" of the obligation to reduce employees' car trips to work or emissions from employees cars by paying $60 per employee, under a draft plan, said Sam Atwood, AQMD spokesman.

Employers would also be able to get out of the requirement that they reduce employee trips or employees' auto emissions for three years by paying a one-time discount fee of $125 per employee, Atwood said.

The new plans are significantly less expensive that a current AQMD rule that allows companies to opt out of putting together a plan to reduce employee trips or employee car emissions for a fee of $110 per employee per year, Atwood said.

The AQMD board is expected to adopt the new rule, called Regulation 2202, at a meeting in early December, Atwood said.

The new rule would replace Regulation 1501, or what is known as the carpool rule, which requires employers to draw up plans and offer employees incentives to carpool, use mass transit or otherwise cut down on trips related to work during rush hours.

The new rule also would replace Regulation 1501.1 passed by the AQMD in April, which gave employers alternatives to meeting the standards of the carpool rule.

Under 1501.1, employers were able to meet the requirements of Regulation 1501 by reducing employee car emissions or by paying $110 per employee per year.

But only employers with 100 to 200 employees were allowed to pay the fee, under the old rule, Atwood said. Under the new proposed rule, employers with 100 to 500 employees would be eligible to pay the fee and it would be a cheaper fee.

The buy-out fee was originally set at $110 per employee because studies showed that companies had to spend that much to reduce employee trips to work, Atwood said.

Price comes down

Atwood said that's being cut to $60 because the air district has new information that the cost is much less than originally thought.

"Companies that scrap cars have told us that they can (reduce air pollution to the same level) at a cost of $40 to $60 per employee," he said.

The money collected is put into a fund called the Air Quality Investment Program, Atwood said.

Since the fund was set up in July, 54 companies have paid $573,190 into it. That will be used on different programs to reduce air pollution from vehicles, Atwood said.

Those programs include scrapping older, high-polluting cars, promoting nonpolluting cars such as electric cars and increasing commuter options such as van-pools, Atwood said.

Linda Waade, executive director of the Santa Monica-based environmental group, the Coalition for Clean Air, said the group had no official position on the plan because it did not have time to study it. She said the group would only support the plan if it achieves the same amount of air pollution reductions as the old plan.