Pollution measure to focus on farms

Legislation on pumps lets other exemptions stand, critics contend.

By Lesli A. Maxwell
Bee Capitol Bureau

(Updated Monday, February 10, 2003, 7:06 AM)

SACRAMENTO -- As pressure mounts on state and federal officials to clean the San Joaquin Valley's dirty air, agricultural lobbyists are reluctantly writing legislation that would subject California farms to more pollution rules.

The proposal, still in draft form, calls for tightening a decades-old state law that has shielded the $27 billion agriculture industry from air emissions rules imposed on other large industries such as oil refineries and glass manufacturers.

The measure would give local air districts authority to regulate diesel-run irrigation pumps under a provision in the federal Clean Air Act known as Title V, which requires restrictions on emissions from stationary sources. It also could pave the way for air officials to start requiring pollution permits on dairies, poultry farms and other confined animal feeding operations.

Farming activities that add to the Valley's dust and particulate-matter problem such as harvesting, discing and driving on unpaved roads would continue regulation-free -- a feature of the proposal that draws criticism from environmentalists who insist all exemptions must be repealed. That feature also could prevent lawmakers from embracing it.

The eight-county San Joaquin Valley is one of the nation's dirtiest and unhealthiest air basins.

Local air district numbers show that in the summer, farms create more air pollution than the region's eight highest-polluting businesses combined. District officials predict that by 2005, livestock waste will edge out cars for producing the most reactive organic gases, a major component of smog. Farm equipment will come in second behind diesel-run big rigs for nitrogen oxides, another smog ingredient.

Those statistics and a series of environmental lawsuits are forcing state officials to look hard at changing policy set in the 1940s when agriculture wasn't considered a source of air pollution.

Farm lobbyists aren't fond of their own proposal, saying environmental lawsuits are forcing them and state officials to change the law.

But the consequences will be harsh if diesel-run pumps and dairies still are exempt from regulation by year's end, when federal officials may force new and expanding businesses to pay extra fees. By 2004, they will block billions of road-building dollars for California.

"We still don't think you can put a device on a farm like you can on a smokestack because farms aren't closed environments," said Manuel Cunha, president of the Nisei Farmers League and one of the architects of the legislation.

"We don't agree with the assertion that [irrigation] pumps are stationary sources, but we are agreeing to do something about it."

The environmentalists who filed suit say farmers are agreeing to the least amount of regulation they can to satisfy the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"It's really immaterial whether or not this satisfies the EPA," said Brent Newell, a lawyer with the San Francisco-based Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment. "This is an ag industry bill that fails to remove a serious roadblock to any meaningful air pollution control measures."

Cunha bristles at Newell's characterization of the measure as an "industry bill," saying farm lobbyists are consulting with federal, state and local air regulators to ensure the legislation will withstand legal tests.

"This is not industry language we are throwing at some lawmaker," Cunha said. "We are working hand in hand with [air officials]."

Jack Broadbent, EPA regional director, confirmed he is talking with farm lobbyists about the proposal but said the agency has not signed off on the measure.

"It's fair to say that we are still looking at the language to see if it does what it needs to with respect to the exemption," Broadbent said. "We have a common interest to address this issue and shore up a permitting program."

Several lawmakers have a keen interest in the bill and are considering whether to carry it into the Legislature.

The farm industry's first choice is Sen. Gil Cedillo, a respected liberal Democrat from Los Angeles who built good relations with farmers when they backed his fight to legalize drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants. Cedillo said last week he is looking at the measure and consulting with Valley lawmakers, particularly Assembly Member Sarah Reyes, D-Fresno.

Reyes said she doesn't think the bill goes far enough and is working on legislation that would require broader air pollution restrictions on large-scale farms.

"We have to be sure anything we do doesn't hurt the small guys, the family farm," Reyes said.

Sen. Dean Florez initially wanted to carry the farm lobbyists' measure but backed away from it last week.

"I don't think an industry-sponsored bill is going to work," Florez said. "Their bill is too piecemeal and will give too many people heartburn."

The Shafter Democrat said he hopes to work on a separate bill to deal with the exemption issue with two of the Senate's leading environmentalists, Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, and Byron Sher, D-Stanford. Both lawmakers lead key committees in which air-related legislation must be heard.

The reporter can be reached at lmaxwell@fresnobee.com or (916) 326-5541.