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Time - Man of the Year
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Time_Man_of_the_Year_Compact_Publishing_3YX-Disc-1_Compact_Publishing_1993.iso
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0323203.000
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1992-08-28
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BUSINESS, Page 48Business NotesPOLLUTIONL.A. Smog Exchange
How much is clean air worth on the open market? Industries in
Southern California will soon find out. The South Coast Air
Quality Management District voted 8 to 1 last week to prepare an
innovative plan that takes a market-based instead of regulatory
approach toward cleaning up the dirtiest air in the nation.
While the same concept will be tried under the federal Clean Air
Act to reduce sulfur-dioxide emissions from electric power
plants in the Midwest, California's Regional Clean Air
Incentives Market program (RECLAIM) is the most ambitious
attempt so far to cut urban air pollution. Under the plan,
businesses will be issued shares in the region's overall
emissions, and together they must reduce smog-forming
hydrocarbons by 5.8% a year, nitrogen oxides by 8% and sulfur
dioxide by 8.5%. Companies that exceed the reductions can sell
emission "credits" to other firms. The market covers 2,800
businesses that account for one-fourth of the pollution in Los
Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties.
Proponents estimate that treating smog as a commodity will
save businesses almost half a billion dollars a year in smog
controls while enabling them to cut emissions. Critics of the
policy warn that inadequate monitoring and enforcement could
undermine the region's goal of achieving clean air by 2010. But
they approve of the innovative approach. Trading is expected to
begin next year.