Insisting there is no other way to meet looming federal deadlines to clean up the nation's dirtiest air, Southern California air regulators will seek greater authority to regulate ships, trains and other large sources of air pollution.
"We're at the end of our rope," said William Burke, chairman of the South Coast Air Quality Management District board. "The state and federal governments simply have not acted quickly enough to address the public health crisis."
Burke said the AQMD board will ask Congress to amend the Clean Air Act to force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board to enact every available, feasible control on mobile sources, which he said are responsible for 80% of the region's smog. The AQMD also wants expanded authority to regulate mobile sources, arguing that its current powers over vehicle fleets, for instance, are not enough.
The nation's two largest railroads have sued the district for trying to impose tougher anti-idling laws on locomotives in the Los Angeles Basin than elsewhere, saying it cannot do so under federal law.
The Clean Air Act largely gives responsibility for such pollution sources to federal and state regulators, while local air districts oversee stationary sources such as oil refineries and power plants.
But regional air quality officials said the EPA has repeatedly postponed tougher regulations on locomotives, cargo ships and airplanes.
An EPA spokesman said new regulations should be ready "sometime this year." The EPA had previously said technology to retrofit locomotives was not yet available. Environmental groups have accused the agency of stalling to aid industry.
To help its cause, the AQMD has hired two high-profile Washington lobbyists, while in Sacramento it renewed a lobbying contract to pursue new state laws if necessary.
At its January meeting, the board approved a one-year, $115,000 contract with Sen. Dianne Feinstein's longtime chief of staff and former legislative director, Mark Kadesh, and his firm, and a one-year, $99,000 contract with Tony Podesta, a Democratic lobbyist in Washington, D.C.
The agency last month renewed contracts totaling $369,000 with former state Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) and a subcontractor for lobbying in Sacramento.
"We need all the help we can get," said AQMD spokesman Sam Atwood.
