Jobs on the line at AQMD

by Jessica Duboff

Spent the morning at the first meeting of the year for the South Coast Air Quality Management District's (AQMD) Governing Board. Was there to testify in favor of Rule 1315-Federal New Source Review Tracking System, which would maintain AQMD’s ability to issue permits to essential public services (hospitals, fire stations, waste treatment plants, schools) and other businesses that are expanding or starting up in the South Coast area by providing emission offsets free of charge from AQMD’s offset accounts.

A previous moratorium on these credits created a backlog of projects and threatened jobs, until SB 827 was signed by Governor Schwarzenegger in 2009. Unfreezing more than 3,000 local development and upgrade projects helped save 57,000 jobs immediately across Southern California.

SB 827 sunsets in 2012, this new AQMD rule would allow the agency to continue issuing permits to qualifying facilities, including public resources and economic drivers such as small businesses and innovative technology and reseach operations; while maintaining an environmental and public health balance.

According to AQMD staff, an estimated 1.86 million jobs and a gain of more than $283 billion of gross regional product in the next two decades is expected if these industries are allowed to grow as anticipated. Recent economic number show that unemployment in Los Angeles is 12.6 percent, almost 3 percent higher than the national average. We need to grow green and clean, but we must have room to grow. This rule will help ensure that essential public services and businesses continue to operate and grow in Southern California, helping our region, families and industry recover from the recession.

After two hours of public testimony, in which many environmental groups spoke of not having enough access to Board members and advocating for an alternative, the Board voted to continue the item to February in order to give time for a few more weeks of discussion.