Air Pollution Abatement in Southern California

Part I: Introduction and Summary of Findings

The problems, economic and otherwise, associated with air pollution in the Southern California region are both legion and legend. A substantial and significant proportion of the air pollution in the Southern California region is attributable to motor vehicle emissions, especially to emissions from the use of private automobiles for commuting to and from home and work (Litvan 36).

To reduce air pollution cause by commuting to and from home and work, the federal Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 mandated reductions in solo commuting in the 10 most polluted regions in the nation, of which the Southern California region is one. In the Southern California region, the South Coast Air Quality Management District implemented Regulation XV prior to the enactment of the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act. Regulation XV requires employers to reduce solo commuting through the implementation of the Rideshare Program (Green 16).

The Rideshare Program is popular with governments and has been embraced (perhaps not warmly) by most employers (Litvan 37; Dutton 49-50). Research has found that the Rideshare Program, which has never been popular with commuters in the Southern California region, from its inception has been and continues to be undercut by parking policies implemented by both

. . .
t encourage solo driving by commuters is wasteful. The economic costs of continued air pollution in terms of environmental, health, and infrastructure damage are enormous. The costs associated with the development, implementation, and administration of air pollution abatement programs are substantial. Added to these costs are taxation policies and parking policies through which both government and employers subsidize the very behavior that the air pollution abatement policies seek to modify. Thus, not only are the parking policies not supporting air pollution abatement objectives, the governmental and employers subsidies funding the parking policies add to the overall economic burden borne by the residents of the Southern California region. Wilson (34) points out that, when municipalities require property developers "required to provide more parking than is demanded, the oversupply tends to push the market price down to zero. à Because market parking prices in the typical sites are zero and the building tenants are not charged for parking, there are no parking charges to pass along to commuters. à In reality, however, parking is not free. In such situations, the difference between the cost of providing parking and what com
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Southern California, Rideshare Program, Century's AVR, Smith Barnes, Issue Wilson, Regulation XV, West Building, Ridership AVR, air pollution, parking policies, southern california, Air Act, california region, southern california region, solo driving, Planning Association, pollution abatement, air pollution abatement, rideshare program, free parking, solo driving commuters, parking space, driving commuters, pollution abatement objectives, 1000 gross square,
Approximate Word count = 1761
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Air Pollution Abatement in Southern California