Edison’s Plan to Cut Smog Rejected : Pollution: Officials call the revisions to a county proposal a last-ditch effort to weaken efforts to improve air quality.

Ventura County air pollution officials have rejected a proposal by Southern California Edison to revise a county plan that would drastically reduce emissions from the utility’s two Oxnard power plants.

The county plan, which will be considered next week by the Board of Supervisors, would require the utility company to reduce emissions by 88%.

Edison’s revisions to the county plan would require emissions to be reduced by 82% and would let the company reopen the debate on pollution control in 1994.

The Edison plan would cost the utility company less to implement but would require deep cuts in pollution-causing emissions to begin sooner than required by the county plan, according to an Edison outline of the plan.

The Edison plan was presented to county officials last week.

Richard Baldwin, who heads the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District, called the Edison plan a last-ditch attempt to weaken efforts to improve the county’s air quality, which is below state and federal health standards for ozone pollution.

He said Edison’s plan was rejected for several reasons but primarily because it would leave long-term reductions open to discussion in the future.

“They would just delay the debate until 1994,” he said.

Although county staff members have rejected the revisions, Baldwin said he expects representatives from Edison to lobby the supervisors next week to consider the utility company’s plan.

Another county air pollution official said he believes that a majority of the supervisors will vote Tuesday to support the county plan.

“I think we have the support of the board,” said Keith Duval, manager of the air pollution district’s rules development division. “They have been clean air advocates for a number of years.”

An Edison spokesman said the company had not been told about the county’s response to the Edison plan and therefore could not comment.

Under the county plan, which is called Rule 59, Edison would be required to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions from the present six-year average of 3,083 tons a year to 370 tons a year by 1996.

The plan would impose what would amount to daily caps on emissions during the May-to-September smog season. It would also prohibit the use of fuel oil during the smog season. Natural gas is a cleaner option, experts say.

Ozone, the primary ingredient of smog, is formed when nitrogen oxides are mixed under sunlight with hydrocarbons from tailpipe emissions and other sources.

Edison officials unveiled their plan last Wednesday to Baldwin, Supervisor Maggie Erickson Kildee and other county representatives. Baldwin and other air pollution control officials met later and decided to reject Edison’s plan in favor of the county plan.

To implement the county plan, Edison would spend $173 million to $210 million for improvements at the company’s Mandalay Bay and Ormond Beach power plants, according to the Edison report. In contrast, the power company said it would only spend $86 million to $178 million to implement its own plan.

Edison’s plan would require a 42% cut in nitrogen oxide emissions by the year 1994, according to the Edison report. During the same period, the county’s plan would reduce the emissions by 29%, the report said.

Although Baldwin said he supports the quicker reductions proposed by Edison, he opposes the overall plan because it would reopen debate on restrictions in 1994, when the district updates its countywide air pollution plan.

He said the county’s 88% reduction plan has been studied and debated for about 11 years and he does not want to open the door for further debate and delays.

Edison says that because it is willing to underwrite smog-fighting efforts by smaller industries in the county, it should be credited for reducing emissions by an additional 4%, bringing its total to 86%.

However, Duval said that allowing Edison credit for emission reductions made outside the power plants would set a bad precedent.

Eventually, he said, small business owners who are required to pay for anti-smog measures to mitigate the air pollution generated by their businesses will be in a bind because large corporations will have already paid for such measures.

“It doesn’t leave anything for the guy who wants to open a small business in Ventura County,” he said.