CLEAN-AIR RULES MAY GET TOUGHER : STANDARDS COULD ALTER L.A.'S GOALS.

Byline: Eric Wahlgren Daily News Staff Writer

The federal government proposed tough new air quality standards Wednesday that if enacted, could force the pollution-plagued Los Angeles region to step up its long and costly war on smog.

The Environmental Protection Agency regulations - hailed by environmentalists and decried by industry leaders - could cost local governments nationwide as much as $8.5 billion a year to put into place, federal officials said.

Local air quality officials also said that if the stricter standards became a reality, the region's efforts to meet the federal goal of clean air by 2010 might be pushed back by as much as seven years.

``What this means is we need to clean the air more than we thought if these tighter standards become final,'' said Sam Atwood, a spokesman for the South Coast Air Quality Management District. ``I think we would certainly need some additional time.''

The proposed regulations would essentially lower the threshold of what are considered harmful levels of smog and soot - the two forms of pollution deemed the most threatening to public health.

Although the EPA acknowledged Wednesday that the proposed regulations would push dozens of regions that already fail to meet federal clean-air goals further away from compliance, agency officials said public health is at stake.

``The current standards don't adequately protect public health,'' said Bill Glenn, an EPA spokesman in San Francisco. ``There has been just an overwhelming amount of evidence that shows we need to bring pollution levels down even further to protect people.''

But the regulations still must go through several hoops with Wednesday's announcement opening a period for the public to comment on the proposals before the agency is expected to adopt new standards in June. Congress and the courts also will get a chance to review the standards before they are written into the books.

The proposed regulations target two main pollutants. Ozone, a major health threat in smog, is an invisible pollutant that kills lung cells and has been linked to increased cancer rates.

Particulate matter, or soot, is made up of tiny particles that penetrate deep into the lungs, contributing to a variety of health problems.

A recent study by the Natural Resources Defense Council found that 8,700 people with compromised immune or respiratory systems die prematurely each year in the South Coast region because of the effects of these tiny particles.

Gail Ruderman Feuer, NRDC senior attorney, cheered the EPA's announcement Wednesday.

``The winners today are everyone in Southern California from children suffering from asthma to our seniors who face shortened lives from tiny particles in the air,'' Ruderman Feuer said. ``We expect these new standards will mean thousands of people will live longer.''

But many industry leaders, who have protested the EPA's new proposed regulations, disputed the agency statements that stiffening federal standards would diminish the health risks linked to pollution.

Business representatives also said it would take billions of dollars and ``Draconian'' measures to put the regulations into place including possible forced car pooling to much higher gas prices at the pump.

``It is going to be very, very expensive for many areas of the country to achieve these new standards and the biggest thing is that (EPA officials) are moving forward with no health basis,'' said Mitch Baer, a spokesman for the American Petroleum Institute in Washington, D.C.

Atwood said once the new rules are finalized, the AQMD, which monitors air quality for Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, will have to work with the EPA and the State Air Resources Board to put more teeth in its clean-air plan.

Environmentalists have argued the AQMD's latest plan - which the district adopted earlier this month after declaring the region breathed the cleanest air on record this year - would be more lax about reducing emissions than the former plan.

Despite the improvements over previous years, the region - which still has some of the foulest air in the nation - violated federal standards for air quality 87 days in 1996, a number that could climb if the EPA adopts its proposed regulations.

Under the proposed standards, the region would have to reduce ozone levels from 0.12 parts per million cubic feet of air to 0.08 parts per million, a reduction that works out to slightly less than a third because of new ways the levels would be measured.

In its attack on tiny particles, the EPA proposes to regulate these harmful specks as small as 2.5 microns in diameter whereas standards now in place call for cracking down on particles of 10 microns or smaller. A micron is invisible to the human eye, measuring one thousandth of a millimeter.

Atwood said if the district's plan were to remain unchanged, the region in the year 2010 would exceed the acceptable level of ozone by 25 percent and the allowable standard for tiny particles by as much as 40 percent. He estimates it would take the AQMD six or seven additional years under the new regulations to meet clean-air goals.

The AQMD, Atwood said, therefore would have to find ways to reduce emissions from combustion engines including those in cars, ships and planes if the new standards are made official.

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