Dearth of inspectors hinders enforcement of exhaust law.

A year ago the state legislature passed a law giving the South Coast Air Quality Management District some needed muscle to cut down on the exhaust emitted by diesel trucks waiting to get into the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The law, which took effect six weeks ago, allows the air quality board to fine terminal operators $250 for every truck idling more than 30 minutes outside their gates. But as of last week, the AQMD hadn't issued any fines.

It's not that the district considers the San Pedro-Long Beach area to be a low priority. The problem is a lack of manpower.

The AQMD has only one inspector and a few assistants assigned to monitor the 13 terminals at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

"If we had more personnel, we could make the programs more effective and more responsive to the community," said Elaine Chang, AQMD's deputy executive officer. "We need more people, particularly for inspections."

It's part of a larger problem that stems from budget cuts and an increased workload at the air quality district, which is responsible for creating monitoring and enforcing regulations for all businesses that emit pollutants in its coverage area.

Those total more than 26,000, including most of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties as well as all of Orange County. The AQMD has only 97 inspectors patrolling the region, a decline of nearly one-third since 1992, when there were 143 inspectors.

In that time, its funding has fallen to $101.6 million from $113 million, and the number of employees has dropped to 789 from 1,163--even as the AQMD's workload has increased.

"What the cuts have done is increase the burden on less people to carry out aggressive programs," said Patrick Pearce, the agency's chief financial officer.

Rising workload

The port congestion law, dubbed the Lowenthal bill after its author, Assemblyman Alan Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, is one of several measures the AQMD has rolled out in recent years.

Most notable is a series of "fleet rules" passed in 2000 and 2001 mandating municipal vehicles, such as school and transit buses and garbage trucks, to use natural gas or other cleaner fuels.

The rules have since been upheld in U.S. District Court and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, but its opponents, the Engine Manufacturers Association and the Western States Petroleum Association, are taking the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"The ruling by the 9th Circuit is considered a landmark decision," said Gail Ruderman Feuer, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, which supported the AQMD in its court battles. "These rules are one of the keys to reducing harmful diesel exhaust pollution in the region."

The AQMD gets 65 percent of its budget from business permit fees paid by operations that emit pollutants in the air. The remainder comes from state Department of Motor Vehicles, state and federal environmental agencies and penalties paid by illegal polluters.

The agency's fee income fell drastically in the two recessions of the last dozen years as businesses failed or ceased seeking expansion permits. Sweeping reforms of the agency by pro-business interests during the 1990s also streamlined the permitting process and eliminated many fees previously required for small businesses.

Gov. Gray Davis swung the most recent ax--a $2.1 million cut last summer that eliminated 29 positions through attrition.

The AQMD had to use $6 million in reserve funds to save nine inspector positions in the current fiscal year. Still, another 30 positions, ranging from engineers, air quality planners, instrument specialists, chemists and support staff, were eliminated.

Under the Lowenthal bill, money from the fines issued by the AQMD is to be earmarked for the agency, which in turn will allocate grants to retrofit or replace drivers' older diesel engines with more environmentally friendly engines.

Nearly all of the 12,000 to 15,000 truckers that haul containers to and from the ports are owned by independent operators who typically get into the business by purchasing used vehicles--some 20 years or older.

As of late last week, the AQMD had received a handful of complaints from truckers claiming they still have to sweat out long lines to get into the terminals during peak hours. But in each case, the AQMD discovered that the drivers had failed to use the terminals' appointment systems, thereby making the terminals exempt from fines. An informal survey concluded that only about 3 percent to 5 percent of all truckers were using the system.