LOS ANGELES — Southern California air regulators have approved a sweeping plan to reduce pollution in the nation’s smoggiest region within the next two decades, but say they cannot meet national air quality standards without federal action.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District governing board voted 9-2 on Friday to adopt a nearly 5,000-page plan, which is expected to serve as a roadmap on how the air district expects to comply with the 2015 federal standard for ozone (the lung-aggravating haze commonly known as smog).
Within the voluminous report, the air district outlines dozens of potential measures that could reduce smog-forming nitrogen oxides and bring the region closer to meeting the 2015 ozone standard, which it is required to meet by 2037. But air district officials said these proposals alone would not help the region meet that target, and implored the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to curtail pollution in ports, rail yards and airports — all of which fall under federal authority.
