Bay Area smog reduction plan approved

Protesters complain remedies inadequate to curb emissions from industry, traffic

Jane Kay / Chronicle 19jul01

Masked protesters from Communities for a Better Environment demonstrated before the meeting to consider the smog reduction plan. Chronicle photo by Vince Maggiora

Air-quality and transportation officials approved a plan yesterday designed to clean up Bay Area skies by reducing smog-producing chemicals from factories and motor vehicles.

At a raucous public hearing before the vote, citizens complaining about air pollution in Richmond, Rodeo and other cities called the solutions inadequate to curb emissions from oil refineries, power plants and heavy traffic.

The plan was approved at a joint meeting of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments. The state Air Resources Board must approve the plan before it goes to the U.S. Environmental Protection.

Ellen Garvey, chief executive officer of the air district, said the agencies face the challenge of continuing to improve air quality by adding more controls on mobile and industrial sources "while at the same time accommodating all of the population and job growth in the Bay Area as well as the increased need for energy."

Nearly all of the pollution cuts in the plan come from improving solvent and paint formulations and placing some controls on refineries. A small portion of the reductions come from programs that encourage the use of public transit over driving.

The EPA will decide whether the plan will produce enough pollution reductions by 2006 to meet the Clean Air Act's standard for ozone, a major ingredient in smog.

About 75 protesters, many holding signs reading, "Gas masks are a fashion disaster" and "Reject the dirty air plan," said they weren't provided nighttime community meetings to testify in the months before the vote. Because only three hours were allotted before yesterday's vote, most of the speakers were limited to only one minute to talk.

"I live in Richmond, and I can't have my windows open," said Glenda Booth, who suffers from lung disease. "My skin, my throat, my ears and my eyes are affected by pollution. People can't afford to move out. I'd like (the regulators) to hurry up and make a plan that works and deals with pollution in Richmond."

Instead of promoting initiatives that would help get cars off the roads and people into public transit, the plan does more to help highway expansion, said David Schonbrunn, president of Transportation Solution Defense and Education Fund in Mill Valley.

"There's too much damn driving in the Bay Area. We're not convinced that putting more money into highways makes any sense at all. We've reached the point of saturation" in some corridors, Schonbrunn told the board members.

MTC isn't offering any new programs in the plan to improve air quality, but instead is trying to taking credit for things it is already doing, Schonbrunn said.

Health officials say breathing high concentrations of ozone can cause lung and heart problems, particularly for asthmatics, the young and the elderly. The invisible gas is formed at ground level on hot summer days when so-called "volatile organic compounds" and nitrogen oxides mix. These ingredients come from motor vehicle tailpipes and industrial sources.

Officials expect to cut an additional 14 tons a day of volatile organic compounds by 2006, according to the plan. Out of the 14 tons, only 0.5 tons a day would come from the MTC measures designed to promote public transit.

In 2001, all sources are contributing 1,178 tons a day of the two pollutants. In 2006, after about 235 tons a day of reductions, including others not mentioned in this plan, the estimate is 943 tons a day.

In the plan, the air district estimates a reduction of six tons a day from new rules requiring less volatile paints, coatings and solvents, and two tons a day from new controls on evaporation from petrochemical tanks at refineries. Four and a half tons would come from the state's improving the smog check program.

Communities for a Better Environment, an environmental group, had wanted the refineries to capture emissions from pressure-relief valves, enclose open wastewater ponds holding volatile chemicals and stop using flares as a pollution-control instead of a safety measure.

Garvey responded by saying, "The refineries are now subjected to the most stringent regulations in the country. They're already clean, and we're trying to make them cleaner."

In the plan, the MTC estimated improvements in air quality from five different measures, including from people using the new BART extension to the San Francisco International Airport instead of driving.

The others are adding express buses on popular routes, aiding counties to improve the safety and convenience of bicycle riders and pedestrians, helping urban designs that promote growth for areas around BART stations and adding tow trucks to remove breakdowns to help reduce congestion.

In March, the EPA rejected an earlier plan submitted by the agencies, saying it was insufficient to curtail smog. Environmental groups have filed suits against the original plan.