Environmentalists File Suit Over Anti-Smog Plan

Environmentalists long critical of Southern California's controversial new pollution trading market filed a lawsuit Tuesday that contends that the fledgling free-enterprise approach to curbing smog does not meet legal requirements for reducing air pollution.

The suit, filed by Citizens For A Better Environment, argues that the Regional Clean Air Incentives Market, which began operating Jan. 1, is not as effective as the 1991 clean air plan it replaces. The suit also says that the amount of allowable pollution under RECLAIM had increased by 5% and is pouring about 1,000 tons of additional pollution into the skies.

The world's first free enterprise program designed to clean up urban air pollution, RECLAIM allots industries an annual pollution limit and lets them choose the cheapest way to stay within the limit, including trading pollution credits.

From the outset of the program, however, critics argued that the South Coast Air Quality Management District and the California Air Resources Board, the agencies being sued, set pollution limits too high.

"They absolutely gave away the store," said Jim Jenal of Citizens For A Better Environment.