40 New Rules Proposed to Clean Southland Air : Smog: AQMD staff releases list to fine-tune its 1989 clean-air plan. Emission totals were found to be higher than original estimates.

Ride-sharing programs to ballgames, shopping malls and college campuses. An urban tree-planting program. A leaf-blower ban. A buy-up of old cars.

These are some of the 40 new rules recommended by the South Coast Air Quality Management District staff to help clean the area’s air by 2010. The measures are included in a proposal, released Thursday, to fine-tune a sweeping clean-air plan adopted in 1989.

The revisions must be approved by July 1 by the boards of both the AQMD--which is responsible for a 6,600-square-mile swath of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties--and the Southern California Assn. of Governments. The updated plan will then face state and federal review.

The new rules were prompted by several concerns, said Bill Kelly, an AQMD spokesman. “One of them is that we found out the emissions (into the region’s air) were greater than we had thought.”

For example, more accurate surveys of pollutants revealed that 133 more tons of hydrocarbons and 58 more tons of nitrogen oxides were emitted daily than the district had estimated previously, Kelly said. Hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides react to form ozone, a major component of smog.

The district also has calculated that fewer electric cars will be on the road after the turn of the century than had been previously expected. And the latest version of the plan addresses concerns expressed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that some aspects of the 1989 plan are unrealistic, Kelly said.

Details on many of the new rules, such as how they would work and be enforced, were not available Thursday.

The ride-sharing proposals are expected to affect the greatest number of people.

One rule, anticipated for AQMD consideration by 1995, would require facilities such as stadiums, concert halls, shopping malls and civic auditoriums to develop programs to reduce the number of cars they attract--which in turn would decrease pollution. For example, Kelly said, parking lot fees and shuttle buses might be incentives that could be used by such facilities.

“The overwhelming majority of (automobile) use is not to go to and from work,” Kelly said.

Kelly said the AQMD staff envisions developing a model ordinance for local governments to impose on entertainment and shopping centers. “But if they didn’t adopt something similar by a certain date,” he added, “then we would enforce our own regulation in that community.”

Employers with more than 100 workers already must provide incentives for car-pooling and riding public transportation. The district staff also would like, however, to continue focusing on reductions in commuter traffic. The new version of the plan includes an expansion of the employers’ ride-sharing programs to about 8,000 companies with 50 to 100 workers.

And local colleges and school districts would also have to come up with similar plans for students. The district staff anticipates adoption of the school requirement in June, taking effect in January of 1992.

The report also recommends:

More tree planting in urban areas to absorb pollutants and to shade buildings, cutting down on the use of air conditioning equipment, Kelly said. Some steps already have been taken, including plans by the city of Los Angeles for more trees. In Pasadena, Kelly said, utility bill credits are available for customers who plant trees.

A ban on leaf blowers, to be adopted in 1993 and take effect in 1994. The Los Angeles City Council already is considering a prohibition on the equipment, which generates fine dust particles.

A buy-up of old cars. Last year, Unocal bought thousands of pre-1971 cars, which were not equipped with smog-reducing catalytic converters. Other companies would be allowed to do the same and get credit toward reducing pollution to the level called for by their AQMD permits.

A limit on curbside idling time to take effect by 1996.

Controls at gas pumps to prevent “topping off,” which releases gasoline vapors.

Public workshops on the suggested revisions to the plan will be held in Los Angeles, Pasadena, Riverside and Anaheim this month.