Edison Ordered to Reduce Emissions 88% : Environment: The Board of Supervisors unanimously approve the regulation. The utility pledges to abide by the rules.

Ventura County adopted an air-pollution control regulation for power plants Tuesday that is the toughest in the nation, capping a years-long battle between the county and Southern California Edison.

County supervisors unanimously approved the measure, which requires the utility to reduce emissions that contribute to smog by at least 88% over the next five years.

The new regulation, known as Rule 59, is more stringent than any existing regulation on power plants in the state or nation, said Bill Sylte, chief deputy executive officer of the state Air Resources Board.

“This regulation shows what can be done in pollution control not only to the rest of the state, but to the rest of the country,” said Sylte, who spoke at Tuesday’s board hearing in favor of the regulation. The Air Resources Board must approve regulations before they become enforceable.

Ventura County’s air is among the worst in the nation for ozone pollution, violating federal health standards 55 days a year and failing the more stringent state standards 135 days a year.

Edison officials, who fought for a weaker regulation that would be less costly to comply with, pledged not to sue or appeal the ruling and to abide by the board’s decision.

“Now we start work on a compliance plan,” said Mike Hertel, Edison’s manager of environmental affairs. “We just want to get the job done.”

Environmentalists who attended the meeting argued for an even tougher regulation but were pleased with the board’s approval of the measure.

“We’ll get nearly a quarter of a million dollars’ worth of pollution control in Ventura County,” said Marc Chytilo, an attorney with the Environmental Defense Center in Santa Barbara. “It’s been a long time in coming.”

Chytilo and Patricia Baggerly, a board member of the Environmental Coalition of Ventura County, were among the activists who pressed the supervisors to cut emissions further by banning Edison from burning fuel oil at its two Oxnard power plants at any time during the year.

Edison should be required to use only cleaner-burning natural gas, they said. But the board decided to pass the regulation as proposed, allowing Edison to burn fuel oil during the winter months, when smog levels are low.

However, the board directed Ventura County Air Pollution Control District staff to return to the board with more information on a possible total ban on burning fuel oil. The board also asked the district to look into whether Edison can install the pollution-control equipment more quickly than the five-year timetable the regulation now allows.

The measure’s adoption was a clear victory for Richard Baldwin, air pollution control officer in Ventura County, who has called Edison the district’s “toughest opponent.”

Under Rule 59, Edison must reduce its nitrogen oxide emissions that escape from smokestacks at its two Ventura County plants from a six-year average of 3,083 tons per year to 370 tons per year by 1996.

Nitrogen oxides combine in sunlight with hydrocarbons to form ozone, a primary component of smog. Edison creates 18% of the county’s total nitrogen oxide emissions. Car exhaust makes up more than half of all nitrogen oxide and hydrocarbon emissions in the county.

Oxides of nitrogen are a byproduct of power generation, occurring when gas or fuel oil is burned at high temperature.

Under the rule, Edison must install “selective catalytic reduction,” a technology that works like an automobile’s catalytic converter. The equipment would cost about $210 million, or about 30 cents per month for the average Southern California household when spread among Edison’s 4 million users.

The technology speeds the breakdown of nitrogen oxides into harmless nitrogen molecules and water vapor.

Ventura County, along with the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which includes Los Angeles County, originally adopted a regulation in 1980 to force Edison to reduce emissions by 90%. But Edison sued both districts and the state Air Resources Board, which wrote the regulation. In a settlement, Edison agreed to reduce emissions to 4,460 tons a year in Ventura County, or by about 25% to 45%.

Five years ago, the county Air Pollution Control District began developing a new regulation to reduce emissions by 88%. Edison has disputed the need for the regulation, saying the cost of the new technology would be excessive.

Two weeks ago, Edison contended in a counterproposal that it could reduce emissions by 86% at about half the cost. Hertel presented that argument on Tuesday. But Baldwin questioned the methods that Edison planned to use to achieve the reductions at lower cost, and the board rejected Edison’s appeal.

“The compelling issue here,” said board Chairwoman Maggie Erickson Kildee, “is we have got to get every pound of emission reductions we can to clean up the air.”