Polluters Will Finally Pay For LA’s Unhealthy Air

Environmental groups have reached a settlement with South Coast Air Quality Management District that will require it to adopt a rule that could fine local polluters over $25 million annually, according to their own estimates.

The regional air basin has never meet federal smog (ozone) standards, as required by law, and last October the groups—including Earthjustice, East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, People’s Collective for Environmental Justice, Communities for a Better Environment and the Sierra Club— sued the AQMD and the California Air Resources Board for that failure to comply. Under the settlement, the AQMD will have to adopt a rule by November 2024 that should require major producers of NOx and VOCs—the main contributors to smog—to reduce their emissions by 20 percent or else pay stiff fees.

“According to a 2018 report from SCAQMD, the agency failed to collect nearly $40 million in fees from top-emitting facilities in 2018 alone,” Earthjustice noted in a press release.

“Community members throughout Los Angeles County, like those in Wilmington and Southeast LA, are heavily impacted by toxic facilities and refineries that emit harmful pollutants and tons of VOC’s. It’s unconscionable that AQMD has failed to enforce the law that is supposed to be there to protect the most vulnerable neighborhoods in their jurisdiction,” said Milton Hernandez-Nimatuj, Southern California Program Director with Communities for a Better Environment. “AQMD agreeing to move forward with the fee rule is a great victory for communities who are suffering from disproportionate impacts of pollution due to a wide range of major industrial sources. We expect our air regulators to be proactive and to do their jobs because if regulators fail, communities will defend their right to clean air, water, and soil.”