Oil Executive Calls Clean-Air Proposal ‘Popular Hysteria’

HOUSTON â€”  A top Los Angeles oil executive took aim Wednesday at a far-reaching plan to clean up Southern California’s air, calling it an example of “popular hysteriaâ€� that has spawned today’s renascent environmental movement.

Richard J. Stegemeier, president and chief executive of Unocal, called the proposal by the South Coast Air Quality Management District a costly overreaction that might not even work and would impose a “technological straitjacket� on society’s ability to solve the problem of dirty air.

Stegemeier’s remarks, before a blue-chip audience of energy, industry and government officials meeting here, referred to a pending proposal to require, among other things, broad-scale conversion of cars and trucks to burn fuels other than gasoline within nine years.

More widely, the recently named chief executive staked out a tough industry position in a fast-developing conflict between fresh environmental concerns and ways to remedy the nation’s fast-growing appetite for imported oil.

The local government agency is to vote on the clean-air plan in March. It is being strongly opposed by California industry generally, and aides said Stegemeier’s comments were only Unocal’s opening salvo.

By targeting the burning of fossil fuel as a key source of the emissions that foul the air, the plan would reduce output from oil refineries in the region by about 80%. Refineries south of the Tehachapi Mountains burn about 980,000 barrels of oil daily, most of it to make gasoline for the area’s cars and trucks.

“Some regulators have flat out stated that they intend to drive the petroleum industry right out of Southern California,� Stegemeier said.

Opponents have focused on the cost of such a program--estimated at anywhere from $2.6 billion to $14 billion over the first five-year phase--and the resulting loss of jobs that studies have forecast. Cheaper and less extensive alternatives are now being proposed by industry.

Stegemeier also asserted that “by basing its provisions on today’s knowledge and technology, which will be obsolete in 20 years, the plan imposes a technological straitjacket rather than encouraging the innovation and creativity that could ultimately solve this problem.�

Unproven Theories Alleged

Citing a broad range of environmental worries that have regained national visibility, he said some are based on unproven theories or sketchy information. He questioned the “greenhouse effect� theory, which holds that atmospheric gases are trapping solar heat and warming up the Earth.

Stegemeier also warned against a repeat of the “costly and counterproductive� regulations of the 1970s and declared that the oil industry has learned to police itself.

“One thing we should have learned from that experience is that the petroleum industry can do the job if government will get off its back.�

Stegemeier last year took over the chief executive post from the retiring Fred L. Hartley, who remains chairman and who has also been an outspoken critic of government intervention and of what he considers excessive environmental regulation.