AQMD Logs Fewer Smog Violations : Pollution: The agency says compliance has risen, but environmentalists decry a marked drop in violation notices. Businesses say the rules are still driving jobs away.

Countering claims by businesses that tough and costly air quality rules are forcing them to flee recession-weary Southern California, a leading environmental group has prepared a report showing a dramatic drop in the number of smog violation notices issued by the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

Only 444 such notices were issued by the agency this year, compared to 4,471 in 1988, according to research by the Natural Resources Defense Council. Moreover, the agency has fewer inspectors in the field and each of them is conducting 35% fewer inspections than were handled in 1988. A similar decline in prosecutions also occurred, the NRDC said.

“It’s one thing to have a kinder, gentler district and another letting sources know there is no chance of getting caught,” said Mary Nichols, senior attorney with the NRDC.

AQMD officials did not dispute Nichols’ figures but said compliance with air quality rules has never been higher, adding that Southern California skies were the cleanest on record between 1989 and 1991. Although smog levels increased slightly this year, the AQMD has cited weather factors as the culprit.

Even with the reduced enforcement, however, industry has continued to criticize the district for imposing costly regulations--and the chorus has grown louder as the region staggers through a prolonged economic downtown.

The AQMD has become a symbol for business and labor unions of the kind of excessive government regulation that has driven jobs from the region. Thursday night, for instance, a group of unemployed labor union members and small businessmen staged a candlelight vigil in front of the AQMD’s Diamond Bar headquarters to show their discontent.

At the same time, environmentalists have been struggling to hold the line on hard-won air quality gains in the nation’s smoggiest urban air basin--Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Recently, the NRDC’s Nichols complained of a “general suspension of existing regulatory efforts.

“Is a non-enforcement program the district’s solution to the economic problems of small business?” she asked in a letter to the AQMD governing board.

Since last year, for example, the number of inspectors in the field dropped to 88 from 105, Nichols said. The number of inspections dropped to 37,722 from 49,510. In 1988, there were 65,525 inspections.

But district officials argue that notices of violation and inspections are but one measurement of the AQMD’s effectiveness. They said they are placing far more emphasis on educating polluters on how to comply with air quality regulations than on issuing citations. Many smaller polluters are being regulated for the first time.

“These programs have resulted in increased rates of rule compliance and emissions reduction,” AQMD Executive Officer James M. Lents said in a written report to be presented today at the AQMD governing board.

AQMD spokesman Tom Eichhorn said the redirected effort aims at meeting “the business person in the classroom rather than the courtroom.”

Nonetheless, the change in direction is leaving at least some AQMD staffers and environmentalists concerned. “Attorneys in the district’s chief prosecutor’s office are sitting on their hands with nothing to do,” said one district employee, who asked to remain anonymous.

Another, who also asked to remain anonymous, questioned whether Lents’ rosy assessment of increased compliance would stand up to scrutiny. “If they let the inspectors go out all the way, you’d see the difference,” he said.

AQMD Chief Prosector Diana Love said the eight attorneys in her office spent all their time on litigation several years ago. Now, she said, they only devote half their time to prosecuting polluters. The rest is spent dealing with public records requests, training and other duties.

“There are more companies here than there were in 1987,” Love said. “The amount of inspectors is down. . . . The budget is going down so we can’t fill empty slots, and we’re trying to meet all the promises we’ve made. What I’m concerned about is how thinly we are stretched personnel wise.”

Such circumstances, she said, could not help but become “a temptation” for businesses to flout clean air rules. “I think they’re human,” she said.

Checking Up on Air Quality

Since 1988-89, inspections of air polluters in the South Coast Air Basin* have dropped dramatically. There are fewer inspectors and far fewer inspections. Some fear this will lead to worsening air quality, but the AQMD says compliance with smog rules has never been higher. INSPECTORS: 99 INSPECTION DECLINE: 1988-1989 INSPECTIONS: 65,525

INSPECTORS: 106 INSPECTION DECLINE: 1989-1990 INSPECTIONS: 60,855

INSPECTORS: 105 INSPECTION DECLINE: 1990-1991 INSPECTIONS: 49,510

INSPECTORS: 88 INSPECTION DECLINE: 1991-1992 INSPECTIONS: 37,722

Violation Notices

When businesses fail to follow air quality rules, notices of violation are issued. Since 1988, the overall number of notices has plummeted 90%. The trend is evident in six kinds of key businesses listed here.

Overall, however, the AQMD says compliance is up because of the district’s educational outreach programs.

TYPE OF BUSINESS 1989 1990 1991 Metal coating 102 40 27 Automotive coating 28 82 22 Wood coating 20 63 52 Can and coil coating 2 17 1 Aerospace coating 17 8 5 Graphic arts 2 3 10 Total 171 213 117

SOURCE: AQMD, Natural Resources Defense Council

* L.A., Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino counties