‘Good News’ That Means Dirtier Air

The South Coast Air Quality Management District made a startling announcement recently: Air pollution in Southern California is not as bad as they thought. So, we all should be cheering, right?

Not just yet. What the AQMD calls “good news” is bad news if you breathe the air.

First of all, the AQMD’s rosy news is based on the results of a new computer program, not a new health study. The revised computer model tells us that we can now pollute more without threatening human health. The AQMD’s predictions do not have the precision of real-life observations. Rather, they use a series of calculations to determine how much pollution our atmosphere can take. These predictions are only as good as the information fed into the computer. Therefore, we must take a critical look at the AQMD’s new assumptions.

Air quality officials call this change “increased carrying capacity”--meaning our air can “carry” more pollution and still be acceptable. Indeed, the AQMD now tells us that 140 more tons of pollution per day is acceptable. But more pollution should never be acceptable.

Although we have made progress in cleaning up our air, the reality is that Southern California still has the dirtiest air in the country. In fact, one would have to combine the air pollution of 40 metropolitan areas, including New York, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia and Denver, to equal the pollution here. Our region still exceeds federal pollution standards on almost 100 days each year. A recent report from the Natural Resources Defense Council, based on findings from the Harvard School of Medicine, revealed that 8,700 people in Southern California will die prematurely each year from tiny particles in our air. Now is not the time to roll back critically important air programs.

Second and even more disturbing, the AQMD is using this “good news” as an excuse to drop dozens of proposed regulations designed to reduce the amount of pollution in the air. In 1994, the AQMD proposed adopting more than 40 new rules to clean our air. Its progress so far has been dismal. The AQMD committed to adopting 22 smog-reducing rules in 1995, yet adopted only two. It’s no surprise that the AQMD now wants to drop many of those rules altogether. If the AQMD’s new modeling is justifiable, instead of rolling back proposed rules, it should reduce the number of measures based on unidentified new technologies that the AQMD claims will magically appear after 2003.

Third, air quality scientists know that our existing standards are not adequate to protect public health. The Environmental Protection Agency correctly criticized the AQMD for relaxing its air programs in the face of coming new tougher standards for smog and soot (tiny particles in the air). The federal agency is expected to tighten these standards by the end of the year. Even the AQMD concedes that pollution in the year 2010--even if every measure in the AQMD’s current plan is adopted and enforced--will be 1 1/2 to five times the level of acceptable pollution under the likely new standards.

So why is the AQMD moving down this path? Because the business community is applying intense pressure to eliminate air pollution regulations. Only last year, the oil industry and auto manufacturers forced the state Air Resources Board to back down on its own electric vehicle mandate. The local AQMD faces the same pressure. The AQMD has lost sight of its primary goal to protect public health.

It’s time for our regulators to show some courage and foresight. Over the past 20 years, we have made tremendous progress in reducing air pollution. The reason we’ve made the progress we have is because of strict regulations. We can’t stop now. The AQMD must remember its mandate to protect public health and stand up to those interests who say we can’t afford to breathe clean air. In the end, clean air will benefit everyone and bring us both a healthier public and a healthier and more productive economy.