Most air pollution experts reject that suggestion, arguing that remote sensing alone could never replace smog checks.
But supporters of remote sensing maintain that some state officials have opposed the technology out of fear that the sensors will expose smog check's flaws.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday August 18, 2005 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 Foreign Desk 2 inches; 89 words Type of Material: Correction
Smog checks -- An article in Sunday's Section A said "cars built in 1976 or before are exempt" from the state's smog-check program. That is no longer true under a state law that took effect April 1. Vehicles built in 1976 that were registered before April 1 did not have to get a smog check this year but will have to in the future. Vehicles built in 1976 and registered after April 1 have to get a smog check. Vehicles from the 1975 model year and earlier are exempt.
Lawson is one of several experts who argue that a large-scale monitoring program in California is long overdue.
"I am a fan of getting the air clean at the lowest cost to society, period," Lawson said. "And I am convinced that if the high-emitter problem were solved, the Los Angeles region would" comply with clean-air standards.
"I am happy that the South Coast is moving forward, they are showing leadership. But this should have been done a decade ago."
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
Finding the dirtiest vehicles
Southern California pollution fighters plan to set up mobile units to find fume-belching vehicles. Owners will be offered money to fix or scrap the cars and light trucks. Here's how the system will work:
1) Sensors record engine output data and trigger camera to identify license plate and kind of vehicle.
2) Laser beam checks concentration of hydrocarbons and other pollutants in exhaust.
3) Data are later retrieved and notices sent to owners of gross polluters.
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Key points
Program is expected to begin early next year in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
- Possibly as few as a dozen sensors would be needed to monitor tailpipe emissions, mostly on freeway access ramps.
- Drivers who get notices could go to one of 32 community colleges, where smog-check dispute referees and mechanics would do tests and up to $500 in free repairs.
- Alternatively, the South Coast Air Quality Management District would offer owners $1,000 to scrap clunkers.
- Low-income owners could get up to $2,000 in additional aid to replace older cars with ones built after 1990.
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Sources: South Coast Air Quality Management District, Taschen.
Graphics reporting by Cheryl Brownstein-Santiago
