10 Florez bills target pollution

'Ambitious' plan tackles farms, dairies, fireplaces.

By Lesli A. Maxwell
Bee Capitol Bureau

(Updated Sunday, February 23, 2003, 7:56 AM)

SACRAMENTO -- State Sen. Dean Florez has unveiled a sweeping and controversial package of air quality legislation that would take the dirtiest cars off the road, restrict wood-burning fireplaces and impose strict pollution regulations on the state's farms and dairies.

Introduced Friday, the measures are drawing criticism from representatives of the $27 billion agriculture industry who judge much of the proposal as heavy-handed and unfairly focused on farms. Clean-air activists in the San Joaquin Valley praised the bills, calling them the boldest plan to curb air pollution they have seen.

Says Florez, a Shafter Democrat whose Senate district is home to some of the nation's most productive farms: "It's tough for me to take this on, but we need to be aggressive, and this is our starting point. We have to approach the problem from a health perspective first; that is paramount."

The stakes are high for everyone.

The eight-county San Joaquin Valley is home to some of the dirtiest and unhealthiest air in the nation, and federal and state regulators are under legal and public pressure to clean it up. Air officials are up against a 2005 federal deadline to reduce smog in the Valley or face sanctions that would penalize businesses with millions of dollars in fines and fees and halt up to $2 billion in road-building funds for California.

Fresno County has the highest child asthma rate in the state, and more than 300,000 Valley residents suffer from chronic respiratory conditions.

Florez says the dire economic consequences of dirty air and its negative effects on health drove him to craft a 10-bill package that he concedes is "ambitious."

The centerpiece of Florez's proposal -- and likely to be the most contentious -- is SB 700, a measure that would repeal the decades-old state law that has blocked state and local regulators from enforcing parts of the federal Clean Air Act on farms.

For the first time, state law would explicitly list diesel-operated irrigation pumps and animal feeding operations such as dairies as stationary sources of air pollution.

Specifically, the bill would require pollution permits for diesel-operated irrigation pumps, dairies, poultry and other confined animal farms -- a provision not unlike a measure that lobbyists for the agriculture industry have been drafting.

But Florez's measure goes further, requiring that local air officials regulate other, non-stationary sources of air pollution from farms -- much of it activity that is fundamental to growing crops, such as harvesting, discing and tilling.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency told California officials last week that they must scrap the farm exemption on stationary sources like pumps, as well as on new sources of air pollution.

Growers know the exemption from permits must go, but suggested that Florez's measure may go too far in its attempt to regulate other parts of the farm.

"What in the wide world of sports does all that mean?" asks Paul Betancourt, a Fresno County almond and grape grower. "When it comes to doing things like turning the ground and tilling, I have to do that. Every farmer does."

Cynthia Cory, a lobbyist for the California Farm Bureau, says she is concerned that the measure was drafted with little or no input from farmers or their representatives.

Environmentalists are wowed by the measure.

"What I see here is unprecedented," says Kevin Hall, a clean-air activist and member of the Tehipite chapter of the Sierra Club. "Every legislator should support this. It's a gutsy move."

Hall, who along with other environmentalists sued EPA over the farm exemption, said the bill brings state law into compliance with federal law and "frees the hands of regulators to do their job."

Florez has enlisted one of the Legislature's leading environmentalists -- Sen. Byron Sher, D-Stanford -- to be a joint author of the bill. Sher chairs the Senate Environmental Quality Committee, the panel that will shape and vote on all air-related bills.

"This exemption issue has to be dealt with for many reasons," Sher says. "The agriculture interests are well-organized and are an important constituency for many legislators. Their involvement on an issue always carries a lot of weight. They will be heard in this debate."

Nine other bills make up Florez's air package, including a measure that would ban open-field burning of agricultural waste by June 1, 2005. That proposal also causes consternation for some farmers, who say they have limited affordable options for disposing of tons of orchard and vineyard prunings every year.

But Florez says a ban on burning would be eased by another of his bills that would require biomass facilities to recycle more farm waste to produce their electricity. Biomass operators also burn construction and other sources of waste that generally are cheaper than using agricultural waste.

"What we're saying is that biomass facilities won't get permits unless they take 30% of what they burn from ag sources," Florez said. "That gives a lot more farmers a guarantee that there's an environmentally sound market for their waste."

One measure -- SB 703 -- was immediately embraced by agriculture. The bill aims to revoke expensive "standby" charges that growers pay to keep their irrigation pumps connected to the electrical grid. Farmers say the charges can add up to as much as 40% of their electricity bills, even when the pumps are rarely used -- a factor that has driven many growers to operate their pumps with cheaper, but dirtier, diesel fuel.

"Electricity has always been the fuel of choice, but it's been too expensive," says Jim Crettol, a Kern County grower and president of the Agricultural Energy Consumers Association.

Florez says converting all or most of the San Joaquin Valley's 4,500 diesel-run irrigation pumps would dramatically reduce emissions that are a main ingredient of smog.

Two other measures in the package aim to help farmers pay for the high costs of cleaning up the air that could be imposed on them.

One would set up a low-interest loan program to pay for installing pollution control equipment or measures, while the other would expand a grant program that has helped farmers replace thousands of dirty diesel engines on pumps to other farm equipment such as tractors.

"A lot of this will come down to dollars for us," Betancourt says. "I want to do my part, but I know I can't afford a whole lot of capital investment."

One final farm-related measure -- SB 707 -- would restrict dairy operators from building within 3 miles of an urban area or school. Likewise, developers could not build homes within 3 miles of an existing dairy. Environmentalists have pushed for such buffer zones, but the bill is likely to draw criticism from local planning officials, developers and dairy operators.

The remaining bills aren't directed at farms.

Two measures target some of the biggest components of the Valley's air problem: cars and fireplaces.

In SB 708, only vehicles 45 years and older would remain exempt from the state's emissions standards. Current law shields any car or truck manufactured before 1974 from the Smog Check program, a policy that environmentalists say allows some of the worst polluting cars to stay on the road. Florez's proposal would require most cars to comply with emissions standards, exempting mostly rarely driven antique and classic cars.

Wood-burning fireplaces would be banned from all new homes under SB 706, unless they meet standards set by the federal EPA.

Florez's final air bill --SB 709 -- would add three public members to the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District Board. With one each appointed by the governor, the Senate Rules Committee and the Assembly speaker, the members would have to have expertise either in health care, the economy or the environment. The current board is comprised of elected county supervisors and city council members from around the eight-county region.

All of the measures will be debated in a series of hearings put on by the Senate Select Committee on Central Valley Air Quality, a panel chaired by Florez.

"We've got to draw the line somewhere, and this is where we are starting," Florez says. "We all have the same goal. We all want clean air."

Summaries of the 10 bills on air quality

SB 700: Repeals a decades-old rule in state law that has shielded farms from needing air pollution permits for diesel-powered irrigation pumps and for confined-animal feeding operations such as dairies. Requires farmers to obtain permits for those sources by Jan. 1, 2005. Mandates that local air districts adopt rules to reduce or eliminate air pollution caused by everyday farming activities, such as harvesting, tilling or discing, by Jan. 1, 2005.

SB 701: Creates a low-interest loan program to help farmers pay for new equipment or for installing measures to limit air pollution.

SB 702: Expands an existing state grant program that has helped farmers pay to replace or retrofit dirty, diesel-powered irrigation pumps. Allows grant money to be used for upgrading other farm equipment such as tractors.

SB 703: Revokes "standby" charges that agricultural customers must pay utilities to keep irrigation pumps connected to the electricity grid. Could encourage farmers to use electricity rather than cheaper, but dirtier, diesel fuel.

SB 704: Requires biomass facilities to regularly burn agricultural waste -- at least 30% of their total fuel -- to produce electricity.

SB 705: Bans open-field burning by June 1, 2005, and requires local air districts to help farmers find alternatives for disposing of farm waste.

SB 706: Prohibits most wood-burning fireplaces in all new homes starting Jan. 1, 2004, except those that meet certain U.S. EPA standards.

SB 707: Sets up buffer zones between dairies and cities by blocking new dairy construction within 3 miles of an urbanized area or school. Prevents schools or homes from being built within 3 miles of an existing dairy.

SB 708: Requires older cars and trucks to comply with state air emission standards through the Smog Check program, but continues an exemption for vehicles older than 45 years -- a concession to seldom-driven antique or classic cars.

SB 709: Adds three public members with expertise in health, economics and the environment to the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District Board. Members would be appointed by the governor, the Senate Rules Committee and the Assembly speaker.

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