Antelope Valley launches its own, business-friendly smog agency.

What do you do if you're in a community where major decisions are made by officials from far away?

If you're in the San Fernando Valley, and the officials are from the City of Los Angeles, you might try to secede.

If you're in the Antelope Valley, and the officials are from the South Coast Air Quality Management District, you might try the same strategy.

And unlike your neighbors to the south, where an effort to separate the San Fernando Valley from Los Angeles died in the state Legislature, you might just succeed.

A push by Antelope Valley business leaders to break away from the South Coast AQMD was approved by the state Legislature in August. As of Jan. 1, 1997, the Antelope Valley Air Pollution Control District will become a reality.

The new district's board of directors will consist of council members from the area's two largest cities, Palmdale and Lancaster; county Supervisor Michael Antonovich, who represents the Antelope Valley; and two other community members. The board will convene in July after a six-month transition period from the old district to the new one.

"We now will offer an option for companies to stay in Los Angeles County," said Veto Lawson Jr., executive director of the Antelope Valley Local Development Corp. "We will be in a more friendly air quality district, and we'll still be able to serve Los Angeles County. And we think that's quite significant."

Despite the South Coast AQMD taking more of a pro-business position in recent months, Lawson and others said that the agency still has a reputation as being unfriendly to business.

"Whether it is a reality or just a perception, the South Coast AQMD (is) seen as a large bureaucracy far removed from the people it served," said Denise Henderson, project manager with Southern California Edison who worked on the air quality district plan since 1990.

But those problems will not be an issue when the Antelope Valley Air Pollution Control District is in place, Henderson said. "This board will be here locally and people will have access to (its members)," she said.

In California, local air quality districts are responsible for tracking contaminants in the air and for setting regulations that ensure that air quality conforms to federal and state standards.

Jack Kyser, chief economist with the Economic Development Corp. of Los Angeles County, said it makes sense for the Antelope Valley, which is separated from the Los Angeles air basin by the San Gabriel Mountains, to have its own air quality district.

"They will probably be much more focused on their specific needs and concerns, and they probably will be a little bit more business-friendly," Kyser said. "I think an air district like this makes a lot of sense."

Henderson and Lawson are quick to point out that the new district's board will not give local businesses a license to pollute the air unchecked.

"Some environmentalists will tell us that we're trying to sacrifice the environment for big businesses, which is absolutely not the fact," Henderson said. "One of our primary concerns is the ability of Edwards Air Force Base to do flight tests."

Lawson said Edwards needs relatively clean air in order to do long-range photography during its flight tests. The base is the area's largest employer.