Innovative Smog Plan Makes Little Progress

It was supposed to be a revolutionary way to clean up the environment, a business-friendly strategy to slash industrial emissions without the heavy hand of government.

But the Southland's market basket experiment has been a serious disappointment.

The Regional Clean Air Incentives Market, or RECLAIM, has fallen well short of expectations. Eight years into the program, smog cuts have been minimal, companies are failing to meet pollution reduction targets, and proposals to rescue the operation are mired in controversy.

Manufacturers, power plants and refineries have reduced emissions by a scant 16%--much less than was anticipated by this time. Businesses were given 10 years to eliminate about 13,000 tons of pollution annually, but as the program nears its end they have eliminated just 4,144 tons, according to projections by the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

Over the course of the program, the AQMD has received a trickle of applications from companies to upgrade pollution control capacity. Air quality officials say that if the number of retrofits doesn't dramatically increase, the program will fail.

So little progress has been made that the AQMD is now telling businesses to slash their air pollution at more than twice the rate they have over the last seven years. Meanwhile, the agency estimates that industry will emit an extra 3,373 tons of health-threatening pollutants into the air this year, 14% more than it is allowed under the program.

Business representatives are divided in their reactions to the program.

"We're going to see the benefits of RECLAIM. It's just taking a little longer than we expected," said Bill Quinn, vice president of the California Council for Environmental and Economic Balance, which represents business and labor groups.

But some companies are resisting pressure to reduce emissions. Some seek to eliminate the penalty they risk if they pollute beyond their limits. Others would like to escape the program entirely by paying a fee of $7.50 per pound of pollution, no matter how much smog they make. Many businesses are insisting on a fresh infusion of credits in return for cleaning up cars, boats and trucks instead of factories, smelters and refineries.

RECLAIM "hasn't done as well as the regulations it replaced," said Mike Scheible, deputy executive officer for the state Air Resources Board. "I don't think it has worked yet to achieve the emission-reduction goals that it set out to do. The reductions we've anticipated have been delayed and won't be achieved for a couple more years."