FIRMS TO BEGIN SWITCH TO CLEAN SOLVENTS.

Byline: Chip Jacobs Daily News Staff Writer

The region's smog-fighting agency put thousands of Southland businesses on notice last week that they must begin to curb their reliance on commonly used industrial cleaning solvents.

The rule by the South Coast Air Quality Management District - its first major smog-cutting decision in recent times - requires that area businesses begin using water-based cleaners in 1999 or face stiff fines.

Petroleum-based solvents account for 36 tons per day of volatile organic compounds that mix with nitrogen oxide to form dangerous ozone. The 36 tons are three times what the area's oil refiners pump into the skies daily, the AQMD says.

The regulation is expected to reverberate throughout the area's industrial base. Tens of thousands of companies - from automotive shops and defense firms to printers and metal shops - regularly use petroleum-based solvents to eradicate grease, ink, adhesives and dirt from finished products and manufacturing equipment.

But air quality officials insist that, by switching to water-based cleaners that emit few or no volatile compounds, industry can actually pocket big savings.

These would come, officials said, by reducing waste-disposal expenses associated with petroleum solvents. In addition, previous smog-cutting rules have put a number of the environmentally friendly cleaners on the market, reducing their price.

``This rule presents a true win-win situation, since it will clean the air and save businesses money at the same time,'' said AQMD Executive Director James Lents.

He and others estimate the annual savings at $4 million to $5 million.

By lowering the volatile compounds permitted in general cleaning solvents, the regulation is expected to shrink smog-forming emissions up to 46 percent by 2010.

A number of industries fiercely opposed the restriction and ultimately won a number of concessions.

For instance, janitorial businesses, dry cleaners, some aerospace firms, semiconductor makers and some specialty manufacturers don't have to make the switch to the water-based cleaners or to acetone, a nonpolluting fluid.

The AQMD board also agreed to give outfits that clean buses, trucks, tractors and other equipment a one-year extension to comply, until Jan. 1, 2001.

There are also built-in incentives.

Companies that use ultra-clean solvents that don't contain any toxic compounds or contribute to global warming or damage the ozone layer would pay no permit or emission fees.

After several years of watching legislators carve into their regulatory authority, AQMD officials said they considered the solvent rule an important political victory.