PROGRAM UPS ANTE FOR SMOG TESTING : CRITICS CITE COSTS TO POORER DRIVERS.

Byline: Eric Wahlgren Daily News Staff Writer

When state regulators launch the hotly debated Smog Check II program in Southern California on Jan. 1, the hunt will be on for the 10 percent to 15 percent of cars known as ``gross polluters.''

With hidden remote sensors designed to spot a gross polluter on the street, testing devices called dynamometers and state-selected referees who will require motorists to fix their cars, the state is seeking to cut pollution by 25 percent.

That's 120 tons per day of smog that will be eliminated statewide, but at what cost?

Critics say the program will hit the poor hardest, forcing many of their older cars off the road or sticking them with larger repair bills than required under the state's old smog inspection program.

``This is too expensive and too Draconian,'' said state Assemblyman Larry Bowler, R-Sacramento, an opponent of the program.

But not even the critics of Smog Check II deny that California, and the Los Angeles region in particular, are plagued by some of the worst air pollution in the nation and that the state's 26 million cars are largely to blame.

Ozone, a major health threat in smog, and particulate matter, or tiny airborne particles, both stem from car emissions and have been linked to increased cancer rates and premature deaths.

State officials say going after gross polluters is the quickest and most economical way to cut smog in the Los Angeles Basin where residents still breathe the nation's dirtiest air.

While they represent only between 10 percent to 15 percent of the Los Angeles County's 6.1 million cars, these vehicles account for a whopping 50 percent of air pollution created by automobiles.

Clean them up or take them off the road, and you've cut automobile-related smog in half, says the state Bureau of Automotive Repair, the agency charged with overseeing the $68 million program.

``We are responsible for reducing pollution by 120 tons every day,'' said Paula David, a bureau spokeswoman. ``Our engineers are trying to distribute the reductions as fairly as possible for all the vehicles out there.''

Smog Check II's cost

But clean air comes at a price, and in this case, the burden could fall heavily on the owners of the county's estimated 600,000 or more gross polluters.

Of course, the old Smog Check program was costing motorists money.

First there was the smog test every two years at anywhere between about $18 to about $40 a pop.

Then, if the car failed the inspection, motorists had to shell out up to $300 to fix them.

After that amount was spent, the state would issue a waiver allowing the car to be driven even if it still didn't pass.

Under Smog Check II, there is no limit on the amount of repairs the owner of a gross polluter must make to bring the car under compliance.

Repair fees in the thousands of dollars could force some motorists to junk their cars altogether, critics say.

These thresholds vary with the year and type of car, but on average, a gross polluter is defined as one that spews out as much as 25 times more pollution than the average car that passes a smog check.

Even if the car is not a gross polluter, its owner under the new program in the Los Angeles area must spend up to $450 in repairs before becoming eligible for a state waiver.

But the biggest hardship will be on drivers of the gross polluters. They will not be able to register their cars until they are fixed.

The bureau does not have the power to impound vehicles. But critics say that like any motorists who drive for six months without registration, owners of nonregistered gross polluters could end up having their cars taken away for 30 days by the police.

``It is going to affect poor people the most because many poor people drive wrecks,'' Bowler said.

But motorists with few resources to pay for repairs might get some help.

State Sen. Quentin Kopp, I-South San Francisco, said he is working on legislation that would help low-income drivers obtain money to fix their cars by using state funds and fees received from out-of-state motorists registering cars in California.

Bowler, a former chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee, meanwhile is one of several legislators fighting to both revise and postpone the program. But it is unclear what impact he and others will have when the Legislature convenes later this week with the Democrats back in the majority.

Despite these efforts, the Bureau of Automotive Repair is moving forward with the program, which could be fully in place in Los Angeles County by mid- to late 1997.

Under the new program, most Los Angeles-area motorists will continue to get smog checks at inspection stations of their choice every two years before renewing their car registration with the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Remote sensors on freeway on-ramps

But motorists also could be ordered in for a smog check if they trip one of the hidden remote sensors that are working on four Los Angeles freeway on-ramps at any one time. Their placement is changed periodically. More remote sensors are expected to be used in the future.

The sensor's infrared beam slices through the car's exhaust plume. If the results indicate the car might be a gross polluter, a camera snaps a photograph of the offending vehicle's license plate.

The bureau then sends the driver a letter instructing the motorist to go to a privately run but state-sanctioned referee center for a $30 inspection to see if the vehicle is indeed a gross polluter.

Bowler singled out the use of remote sensing devices as one of the program's worst components.

``The remote sensors are less than 50 percent accurate, and they have the ability to force someone to take off a day of work and go in and get checked,'' Bowler said.

The bureau said engineers are now working out the bugs before they increase the use of the sensors.

New referee centers and dynamometers

Some motorists will have to take their cars to referee centers even if they're not caught by the remote sensors.

Their cars will be considered suspect if they are of a certain age or type.

Owners of those vehicles - up to 15 percent of Los Angeles-area cars - will have to take their cars to be tested on a dynamometer - a special treadmill-like device that all smog inspection shops will have to purchase if they want to stay in business.

David said that unlike the current inspection device that is inserted into a stationary car's tailpipe, the dynamometer is more accurate, can test the car at various speeds and detects more types of pollution.

According to the bureau, about 30 percent of cars overall are expected to fail the new smog test compared with 18 percent with the old inspection device, but only about 15 percent will be deemed gross polluters.

David said no cars built before 1966 will be tagged as gross polluters.

``There are just not that many out there for us to go after them,'' David said.

But Karen-Lee Bixman, the publisher of The Investigative Reporter who has reported extensively on Smog Check II, said that in the rush to get cars checked, dynamometers could easily be misused, leading to a car's wrong diagnosis as a gross polluter.

``We have cars failing these tests when they shouldn't be,'' Bixman said.

Also, drivers who repair their gross polluters under Smog Check II must return annually to a referee center for another $30 inspection for a period of two to five years, a requirement some critics call unnecessary.

Gas station and garage owners statewide also contend that buying the dynamometers could cost them anywhere between $30,000 to $85,000, which they said is a big burden for businesses with the old testing equipment.

``It is a big rip-off,'' said Hector Cruz, owner of a Sun Valley smog inspection shop called Action Auto Center. ``They tell you to get some equipment and once you're finished with the payments, they come up with a new law.''

Smog Check II evolution

The Smog Check II was authorized by the state Legislature in 1994 after a lengthy battle between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the administration of Gov. Pete Wilson.

The EPA said California's smog program, operated in large part by the state's private garage and gas station owners who conduct the smog checks, was a dismal failure and should be scrapped in favor of state-run and operated inspection stations.

Under the threat of losing federal highway funds, the Wilson administration and state legislators battled to come up with an alternative rather than see small business owners lose their income from smog check service.

The compromise, finally agreed to by the EPA, was Smog Check II.

``It was important to face down the EPA with legislation that represented much less than the EPA demanded,'' said Kopp.

Since Smog Check II began on a trial basis in Northern California earlier this year, a new electronic reporting system in place since April shows that about 4.8 million drivers had smog inspections with about 10 percent failing and 3.7 percent deemed gross polluters.

Critics of Smog Check II said failure rates could skyrocket once the program is fully implemented next year, costing Californians big money and long waits at referee centers.

``We have to come up with something else,'' Bowler said.