Regulating regulators.

Regulating regulators

The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce strongly agrees that the reins need to be pulled in on the Air Quality Management District ("Regulating the regulators," your editorial of April 23).

The chamber recognizes the tough job facing the AQMD. However, we are concerned the agency's staff has grown too rapidly and its budget has skyrocketed -- all with virtually no review by the state. A major portion of the AQMD's budget comes from fees and fines.

From 1987 to 1989 the budget has escalated by $30 million; the staff has increased by 300. By 1992 the AQMD will increase its budget by $40 million for a total of $128 million and add 400 new staff members for a force of about 1,300.

Very few governmental agencies anywhere in the country have experienced such growth, and those which have, have undergone intense scrutiny to justify the increases.

Recent actions at the state level indicate the California Legislature is, indeed, getting the message and is responding positively to the business community's concerns. State Sen. Presley conducted an oversight hearing on the AQMD April 9 under the auspices of the Senate Appropriations Committee. I testified on behalf of the chamber and presented a number of recommendations that we hope will be considered. Among our recommendations:

1. The AQMD should submit a detailed annual report to the California Legislature, with a full accounting of the AQMD's activities, work program and expenditures, and an evaluation of their effectiveness.

2. The AQMD should focus greater attention on some of the unintended consequences of air quality restriction that impact the manufacturing sector. There is no mention of the socio-economic impacts, or how many firms and jobs may be wiped out in the process of devising rules.

The chamber also is concerned that the AQMD's overstepping its bounds and moving into other decision-making arenas based solely on how air quality is affected. Air quality should not be the driving factor for all other issues.

3. There should be better coordination of environmental decision-making to prevent air quality decisions that negatively affect water quality or waste management solutions.

4. The AQMD should work with business, industry, labor and the minority community to develop positive programs using market-based incentives to achieve air quality objectives.

The chamber supported the ultimate adoption of the Air Quality Plan for the South Coast Air District, and we have testified in favor of reauthorizing the federal Clean Air Act. We want to work cooperatively with the AQMD -- we all have a stake improving our air quality.

RAY REMY, president, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce