EPA PLAN BLASTED KERN FACES MORE AIR RESTRICTIONS.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - A proposal to tighten emission control standards for east Kern County is generating a flood of bipartisan opposition that has the Environmental Protection Agency rethinking its options.

The EPA is proposing to bump up its classification of the air pollution problem in the San Joaquin Valley planning area from serious to severe. The move would require tougher emission controls from the Kern County Air Pollution Control District, which is included in the planning area.

Alarmed at the potential impact on programs at Edwards Air Force Base, the China Lake Naval Weapons Center and on surrounding communities, Antelope Valley leaders have sent about 400 letters and e-mails to the EPA opposing the move. The public comment period on the proposal closes today.

``Originally, we were hoping to finalize the proposal in October,'' said EPA planner John Ungvarsky. ``Because of the comments, EPA will need to think over the best way to go. There is an urgency to get going on the San Joaquin Valley.''

The proposed designation change lowers the definition of a major source of emissions from 50 tons to 25 tons a year. It also requires more reports for those sources. The Kern County Air Pollution Control District would also be required to establish new emission control rules and fees.

Two main issues being raised are the potential impacts on the region's two military bases and the effectiveness of tighter controls in a region where the primary pollution problem is bad air blowing in from other areas.

``There is a real legitimate issue about whether reduction emissions from sources in east Kern County will make a difference,'' Ungvarsky said.

Among those who have sent letters in opposition include the Antelope Valley Board of Trade, The Gas Co., Lancaster Mayor Frank Roberts, Assemblyman George Runner, Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich, and five California congressmen, including Reps. Bill Thomas, R-Bakersfield, and Howard ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., also has joined Antelope Valley leaders in opposing the bump up.

``All data indicates that including eastern Kern County in the bump-up of the San Joaquin Valley nonattainment area is unwarranted,'' Feinstein wrote in an Aug. 15 letter to Felicia Marcus, regional administrator for the EPA. ``To continue to subject eastern Kern County to the constraints of a severe nonattainment reclassification will result in unnecessary impacts on the people of eastern Kern County and operations at Edwards Air Force Base and the China Lake Naval Weapons Center.''

Under the Clean Air Act, planning areas are deemed to be ``nonattainment'' if ozone levels exceed federal standards on an average of more than one day per year over a three-year period.

Under the law, there are five classifications of nonattainment: marginal, moderate, serious, severe and extreme.

In 1990, the San Joaquin Valley planning area was designated as serious, and officials were ordered to provide a plan to attain compliance with federal standards by Nov. 15, 1999.

While the planning area's air quality has improved, poor air quality exceeded ozone standards 80 times between 1997 and 1999, the EPA said.

Air monitors at Edwards show that the federal standard was exceeded six times in east Kern County during the same time period.

State air officials and the Kern County Air Pollution Control District have asked the EPA to turn the region into its own planning area. EPA officials said that would be problematic, triggering a flood of similar pleas from other regions.

EPA officials said that if the planning area were to be altered, the most natural change would be to include east Kern County in the Southeast Desert area, which includes much of San Bernardino County and is also designated as severe in air quality. While the Tehachapi Mountain range separates east Kern County from the San Joaquin Valley, there are no natural barriers between east Kern County and the Southeast Desert Area.

In addition to writing letters, Thomas, the Bakersfield Republican whose congressional district includes east Kern County, is looking at legislative efforts to block the designation change.

Thomas has talked with Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, about including language in the EPA's appropriations bill blocking the bump-up.

The Kern County Air Pollution Control Board has also authorized district staff to pursue legal action if the change occurs.