AQMD sniffs at new approach to checking exhaust.

Agency mulls system to replace 'carpool rule' incentives

A South Coast Air Quality Management District task force is considering replacing the so-called "carpool rule" with a new program in which companies would use a new, high-tech device to monitor the smog-causing pollutants emitted by employees' car tailpipes.

The AQMD's Regulation 15, or the "carpool rule," requires all employers with 100 employees or more to develop ride-share plans which provide incentives for employees to carpool during rush hours.

The new plan would involve using "remote sensors" -- a device which measures pollutants emitted from cars -- to ferret out the worst polluters.

The remote sensor plan is the "leading alternative" being discussed by a task force of business and community leaders who are working to revise Regulation 15, said task force member Bill Burke.

Regulation 15 is the air quality rule that is "most hated" by Southland businesses, AQMD Chairman Hank Wedaa told the Business Journal in an interview in January.

The AQMD board approved the rule in 1987 and it went into effect in 1988. Large area corporations have spent as much as $2 million a year offering employees monetary incentives to comply with the rule. In addition, since 1988 Southland businesses have paid out more than $3 million in fines and penalties for failing to comply, according to AQMD officials.

At Wedaa's request, the AQMD board voted in January to set up a task force to rewrite Regulation 15 to provide a less expensive means for businesses to reduce employees' car pollution.

The task force of 85 business and committee leaders from L.A., Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties has been meeting since February to devise a new plan. It is scheduled to present its recommendation to the AQMD board in October.

"A lot of businesses are eager to have this (pollution) sensor option," said Sam Atwood, AQMD spokesman. "They think it will be cheaper" than the current carpool incentive programs, he said.

The sensors would be used at company parking areas "to find the really dirty employee cars," Atwood said. Employees may be required to submit their cars to the test as a condition of employment, he said.

Then, once heavy pollutant-emitting cars are identified, employers would either pay for repairs or pay employees to scrap the cars, Atwood explained.

Task force member Burke said. "There are some company (officials) who say they will hire mechanics to fix the cars right there" in company parking facilities.

In June, the AQMD board authorized sending out requests for proposals for a consultant to do a pilot study of a company using the sensor, Atwood said. The consultant would "evaluate whether or not this could be used as a substitute for ride-share incentives in a ride-share program," he said.

Wedaa told the Business Journal last week the sensor plan is one on which "everybody agrees." But, he added, the committee has brainstormed about a dozen other alternatives, typically involving ride-share incentives.

Wedaa said he believes the task force ultimately may propose the sensor option in combination with some carpool incentive options.

So employees may have some incentives to carpool in addition to submitting the cars they drive to work to smog tests at on-site or off-site parking areas.

Wedaa said the smog-detecting device was invented by a Colorado scientist about seven years ago. Locally, L.A.-based Hughes Aircraft Co. is working on producing a smog detector, he noted.