Clean Air In the News

WHEN FEDERAL clean-air experts visit the state with the nation's dirtiest skies, California should give them an earful. That's likely to happen today at a Los Angeles hearing on ozone, a lung-searing ingredient of smog.

But the next steps are the crucial ones. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is weighing stricter limits on ozone, the hazy brew cooked up by engines, factories and refineries. Washington last set ozone figures a decade ago, and an outside panel of experts is recommending a lower level based on new health studies.

Following this advice is anything but assured. The federal agency, which lives under the White House's thumb, can also leave things alone as some utilities and refiners prefer - or tighten the rules only slightly. At a time when California is moving smartly to cinch down emissions on industry, vehicles and construction equipment, a do-nothing message from Washington would be absurd.

This state still has far to go. The San Joaquin Valley and Los Angeles Basin routinely rank at the bottom in smog indexes; and this week's Spare the Air warnings are a reminder for the Bay Area of this daunting issue. It's no time to stop the clean-air effort.

The eventual ozone target, due to be set next year, will become an important yardstick in setting state smog rules. If a state fails to make progress, Washington can withhold highway money, a major weapon.

Just as significant is the message that federal smog rules send: Washington believes in science, safety and health. California and the nation need to hear this reflected in stringent ozone rules.