AQMD takes aim at leaf blowers, deep-fat fryers, auto salesmen.

AQMD takes aim at leaf blowers, deep-fat fryers, auto salesmen

The South Coast Air Quality Management District, under mounting pressure to cleanse the region's dirty air, is considering a host of new pollution- control rules for 1991 that range from unusual to merely burdensome.

New AQMD regulations could require special equipment for gasoline storage tanks and deep-fat fryers, wind-reducing nose cones for trucks, a limit on "cold-starts" by car dealerships, elimination of gas-powered leaf blowers and a greater number of businesses forced to car pool. In short, the AQMD's 34 proposed regulations for 1991, though still in the planning stage, could drastically increase the scope of district power over smaller Southland companies, after years in which air regulators focused on heavy polluters like oil refineries and power plants.

"Historically, the district has very heavily regulated bigger business and left alone the smaller sources of pollution," AQMD Executive Director James Lents told the Business Journal. "But we need to reduce emissions by 80 percent from today's level and we can't do that unless we go after the smaller sources of pollution."

Armed with a record $101.4 million budget, AQMD officials are confident they can bring the five-county South Coast Basin up to federal clean air standards by 2007, even though the Environmental Protection Agency once again rated Southland air as the worst in the nation. The 1989 California Clean Air law also requires the district to achieve a 5 percent reduction in all major air pollutants every year.

"We try to make people understand that if they beat up on the AQMD, there is still the the California and federal clean air act," Lents added. "In general, the business community understands our dilemma."

Lents did not say what the 1991 rules -- all part of the district's updated Air Quality Management Plan -- would cost the 30,000 Southland businesses under AQMD purview. Southland air regulators said last year's rules cost industry $2.9 billion, but business leaders asserted the figure is more like $9 billion, and that as many as 350,000 could lose their jobs as a result of AQMD rules between now and 2007.

They also predicted the battle to clean the air, while balancing business interests in an uncertain economy, will be intense. Many local companies, particularly furniture manufacturers, producers of industrial paints and adhesives and aerospace companies, complained loudly last year the AQMD was being too aggressive.

Tom Flavin, a member of the Community Air Quality Task Force, an influential group representing major labor unions, trade associations and manufacturers, reiterated calls for the AQMD to ease up on business, which only generates about a third of the area's pollution.

"There is going to be continuing controversy about plans until the AQMD focuses on the major sources of pollution -- cars -- and legitimate cost analyses are conducted," Flavin said. Lents defended the AQMD's ability to understand the cost impact of their rules, terming them "the most sophisticated economic models" in the nation.

Adrian Sanchez, regional economist for Security Pacific National Bank, said smaller businesses struggling to stay afloat could be pushed over the edge by new environmental rules.

"If you are going to impose tough standards on small companies that may already be experiencing weak orders, it may not take much to convince them not to do business in the Los Angeles area," Sanchez said. "Healthy businesses can pass on the cost of new rules, but the marginal ones can not."

The district is considering 16 new laws for next year to pare industrial air pollution.

To reduce hydrocarbons, a prime ingredient of smog, the AQMD may require special vapor-recovery systems for trucks, trailers and railroad cars that unload oil and gasoline into storage tanks and containers. A similar rule is being contemplated for gasoline-terminals at oil refineries.

The AQMD also wants new regulations lowering nitrogen oxide, another chief component of smog. Industrial furnaces that melt glass and metal, along with curing and drying ovens, could be forced to use new combustion methods and alternative fuels. Similarly, restaurants and facilities that use deep fat fryers could be made to install special absorption filters or afterburners to cut down on hydrocarbons and other pollutants.

To chop nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide, the AQMD wants business to plant trees in urban areas, use adjustable speed equipment on industrial motors and adopt conservation programs using more efficient lighting, heating ventilation and air conditioning.

No estimate of the number of businesses that will be impacted by the new rules has been completed.

Pollution generated by the Southland's 10 million automobiles and trucks will continue to be a major district focus, though the real regulatory power over cars still emanates from the California Air Resources Board.

AQMD staff are working on equipment, to be installed at gasoline stations, preventing motorists from topping off their fuel tanks so hydrocarbon vapors do not leak into the air.

In the most unusual rule being pondered, the district may ask all trucking companies to install aerodynamic shields on tractor cabs to reduce wind drag, increase fuel mileage and thus reduce pollution.

Car dealers could be feeling the heat as well. The district wants to limit the number of times that new and used-car dealerships conduct so-called cold starts on their automobile inventory, as a way to trim emissions of carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and hydrocarbons.

A ban is also being considered on Southland vehicles that operate solely to advertise, and the AQMD is trying to devise ways to prevent motorists from idling at the curb. (Cars that idle produce a disproportionate amount of air pollution, compared to those that are moving.)

The district also wants to totally outlaw gasoline-powered leaf blowers, long a mainstay of the gardener and maintenance industry, and replace them with ones fueled by electricity or battery packs.

Air regulators have proposed nine rules for sources of pollution that are neither directly linked to cars or business.

One major rule would dramatically expand the AQMD's 1988 regulation forcing an estimated 2,800 companies with 100 or more employees to develop trip reduction plans. The district may require business with 50 to 99 employees to subsidize carpooling, alternative work schedules and public transit for its workers like the larger companies. In addition, the AQMD may ask local high schools, colleges and universities to reduce students' trips to school facilities.

Businesses that generate large numbers of trips by trucks -- terminals, truck stops, warehouses -- could be required to limit truck idling and shift deliveries to non-rush hour periods.

Finally, the AQMD is considering a series of regulations that would increase its power over real estate developments. New commercial and residential projects close to facilities that generate carcinogenic or other other contaminants may have to seek AQMD permits, and local governments could be forced to adopt minimum standards for new projects specifying construction, demolition standards, pollution in parking structures and freight-loading zones.

While environmental gains have been made, the AQMD said, Southern California still flunks many federal pollution tests. The Southland had levels of ozone in 1989 almost three times the federal level, the worst carbon monoxide problem in the United States and represented the only area in the nation with amounts of nitrogen oxide still exceeding federal law.

Business organizations, though concerned about the air, said the AQMD is still a bureaucracy running wild. A bill sponsored by state Sen. Robert Presley (D-Riverside) requiring the AQMD to increase notification of new rules to business is pending in the legislature.

"Overall, we feel there should be some kind of control and constraints on this agency so they just can't write the ticket without some accountability," said Lou Custrini, vice president of the 4,000-member Merchants and Manufacturers.

"When they (the AQMD) make these regulations, they need to consider the effects on the economy. No one can deny that L.A. has serious environmental problems but we want a balanced consideration."

The AQMD's 12-member board of directors will officially update the Air Quality Management Plan in next June.

PHOTO : Lents and his smog machines: `We can't reduce emissions by 80 percent unless we go after

PHOTO : the smaller sources of pollution'