Southern California's quest for clean air: is EPA's dilemma nearing an end?

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Southern California's quest for clean air: is EPA's dilemma nearing an end?

"The challenge EPA confronts in ridding the South Coast of dirty air, then, may make Hercules, labors in the Augean Stables seem like light housekeeping."(1)

I. Introduction

To many people, southern California is synonymous with smog. The region's South Coast Air Basin (Basin), which encompasses 6600 square miles within central southern California,(2) is burdened with the worst air quality in the nation. The Basin,s ozone levels are the highest in the nation, and its carbon monoxide problem is "possibly the worst . . . of any urban area in the United States."(3) In Coalition for Clean Air v. Southern California Edison Co.,(4) the Ninth Circuit ruled that the enactment of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 did not relieve the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from a prior court order to promulgate a federal implementation plan (FIP) for the Basin. This Comment examines the background behind the case and California's attempts to comply with the Clean Air Act, and suggests that EPA should follow a flexible approach in designing its FIP.

II. History of EPA's Role in Southern California

Although federal legislation of air pollution began in 1955,(5) the federal government's role in controlling air pollution dramatically increased with the passage of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1970 (CAA).(6) The 1970 Amendments required EPA to establish National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for any air pollutants that could be harmful to the health and welfare of the public.(7) EPA established NAAQS for six pollutants in 1971, include ozone and carbon monoxide.(8) The 1970 Amendments also directed states to design State Implementation Plans (SIPs) to assure the implementation, maintenance, and enforcement of the NAAQS within each state.(9) To ensure that states would conscientiously assume their duties, the 1970 Amendments also required EPA to promulgate a federal implementation plan (FIP) if it disapproved proved a SIP or if the state failed to promulgate a SIP.(10)

Since the enactment of the 1970 Amendments, California has been unable to produce a SIP satisfying the requirements of the CAA. The chronology of events from 1972 until the Southern California Edison decision details the difficulties that both California and EPA have encountered in attempting to arrive at a wor...

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