Air Pollution Control

A federal district judge will hear arguments today over whether an air-pollution control agency issued invalid emission credits to businesses and public facilities in one of California's most polluted regions.

The California Air Resources Board has ruled that the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is solely responsible for controlling the choking dust storms that arise from the dry Owens Lake bed. The board said the DWP must take additional air pollution control measures on 2.9 square miles of the dry lake, which was drained to provide water to Los Angeles. The powder-fine dust arising from the bed often exceeds federal health standards. The DWP argues that it has already reduced dust pollution 90% at a cost to ratepayers of $1.2 billion.

On the eve of what promises to be one of the smoggiest winters ever for this contaminated city, government officials on Thursday announced additional anti-pollution measures that environmentalists termed disappointing. A 23-point program, ranging from burning cleaner fuels, to changing school schedules, to putting government messengers on bicycles, will take effect Dec. 1, said Mexico City Mayor Manuel Camacho Solis.

As a boy, Ted Schade couldn't get enough of old westerns with heroes standing alone in defense of towns that wouldn't stand up for themselves. Now a 55-year-old man, Schade believes he is experiencing his own version of "High Noon. " As air pollution control officer in the 110-mile-long Owens Valley, Schade has forced the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to quell dust storms rising off the dry bed of Owens Lake, which L.A. drained to slake its thirst. Now the powerful utility is going after Schade.

Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, making good on an earlier promise, announced legislation that would create new regional agencies in California to oversee air pollution control, transportation and regional planning. Brown's measure would eliminate 20 air pollution control districts, 27 transportation planning agencies, seven water quality control boards and 20 local agency formation commissions.

Some Fresno and Kern County supervisors are criticizing San Joaquin County's idea to create a northern San Joaquin Valley air pollution control district. San Joaquin County supervisors voted 4 to 1 on Tuesday to ask the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District to consider placing Merced, Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties in a single district to meet federal clean-air standards.

The City Council on Tuesday decided to lease four electric-powered pickup trucks, replacing gasoline-powered vehicles used by Parking and Code enforcement personnel. The cost to lease the four vehicles for three years will be $72,000, paid for by state air pollution control funds. Information: (949) 248-9890.

An agency responsible for policing polluters throughout the San Joaquin Valley agreed Tuesday with environmentalists that it wasn't doing enough to keep the air clean. The San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District agreed to federal supervision for part of its cleanup plan for the area's notoriously bad air.

The Board of Supervisors will consider Tuesday a set of stringent air pollution control guidelines for outdoor paints that are designed to reduce hazardous emissions by one ton per day in Ventura County. The guidelines, proposed by the county's Air Pollution Control District, would prohibit the sale of at least 13 types of paints, including some types of wood lacquer, quick-drying enamels, industrial paints and primers.

In an attempt to avoid state intervention, eight San Joaquin Valley counties have agreed to form a valleywide agency to control air pollution. Fresno County Supervisor Judy Andreen announced the agreement at a hearing before the state Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Wildlife. The hearing was called to consider a proposal by state Sen. Dan McCorquodale (D-San Jose) to require formation of a single air pollution control district in the San Joaquin Valley.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power filed a lawsuit Friday that would limit its spending on measures to stop massive dust storms at Owens Lake. The agency argues that the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District is unreasonable to order the DWP to eliminate dust on 2.9 miles of remote, geologically challenging lake bed. The DWP has already spent $1.2 billion to fulfill a 1997 agreement with the air pollution district to combat the powder-fine dust from the dry Owens Lake bed. The agency has reduced particle air pollution by 90% by introducing vegetation, gravel and flooding into vast areas of the lake bed. The 100-square-mile lake east of Sequoia National Park was transformed into dusty salt flats after 1913, when its supply of snowmelt and spring water was diverted into the Los Angeles Aqueduct.

More than half of oceangoing vessels serving the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have been skirting traditional shipping lanes to avoid air pollution curbs, prompting California officials Thursday to extend the state's clean-fuel zone beyond the Channel Islands. The unanimous vote by the California Air Resources Board came after strong protests from the U.S. Navy that the jump in commercial ship traffic across the Point Mugu Sea Range was "seriously jeopardizing successful completion of vital Department of Defense testing and training missions.

California officials Thursday abruptly halted a controversial effort to slash the carbon footprint of automobile air conditioning. "Cool car" rules would have required a clear, reflective glaze on vehicle windows as a way to block excessive sunlight and heat. The rules were adopted in June by the state Air Resources Board and were in the process of being finalized. But law enforcement officials had expressed concerns that the coating -- a spray of microscopic metal particles that block infrared rays -- would interfere with the electronic monitoring of ankle bracelets on paroled felons.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District improperly permitted an oil refinery to implement a new industrial process without an environmental review even though the project might have caused substantially more air pollution, the California Supreme Court unanimously decided Monday. The state high court faulted the air quality district for determining that the project by ConocoPhillips Co. in Wilmington would not significantly hurt the environment. The court said the air district applied the wrong base rate when calculating the effect of the emissions.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced late Friday that it would challenge the Environmental Protection Agency's decision to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act, setting the stage for a protracted legal battle with the Obama administration over global warming. The chamber said it was filing a petition with the agency challenging the EPA's process in determining that greenhouse gases endanger human health and are thus subject to Clean Air Act regulation. The challenge is likely to lead to a court battle.

For product presentations, Phillip Roberts sometimes carries along a petri dish filled with black grit, just in case people don't believe the story about his Long Beach condominium balcony and the catalyst for the creation of his small business. The grit is a daily gift of air pollution that comes with his otherwise spectacular view of the Port of Long Beach, on the horizon just beyond the Queen Mary. Once Roberts realized that cleaning the sooty material from his balcony tabletop was going to be a daily task, the former asthma sufferer did two things: "I bought hospital-grade air filters for every room in the condo," Roberts said, "and I thought that maybe I ought to try to do something about it."

The Port of Los Angeles, the nation's busiest container port, is negotiating with an alternative-fuel vehicle manufacturer to purchase and evaluate the company's heavy-duty, zero-emission trucks, which use a hydrogen fuel cell hybrid electric power system. The company is Vision Industries Corp. of Florida, doing business as Vision Motor Corp. in California. Vision's research and development facility is in El Segundo and its manufacturing plant is in Whittier, said its president and chief executive, Martin Schuermann.

Not too long ago, the 10,500-acre complex at the southern tip of Los Angeles County wasn't just the home of the nation's busiest seaports, it was the graveyard where old trucks went to die. Dented, rusting 1988-and-older rigs hauled cargo containers to and from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, earning the harbor the nickname of "diesel death zone." On Jan. 1, the neighboring ports cruised past a major pollution-fighting milestone, banning trucks made before 1994 and those that don't meet at least 2004 emissions standards -- trucks such as the 15-year-old Freightliner once owned by Guido Perez.