Wilson Lauds 3M Plant for Anti-Pollution Effort

Gov. Pete Wilson honored workers at the 3M Co.’s Camarillo plant Saturday for their effort to reduce toxic emissions from a plant that at one time was among the region’s worst polluters.

Wilson presented plant officials with the second annual Clean Air Award, which was created to recognize industries for their contribution to the reduction of air pollution.

After spending four years on top of the county’s list of 27 companies emitting toxic pollutants into the air, 3M installed a $10-million solvent recovery system earlier this year that officials said would reduce emissions by more than 90%. Much of the cost of the system was recovered because it allows for increased efficiency, 3M officials said.

“What 3M has shown,” Wilson said, “is that environmental quality and economic health are not mutually exclusive.”

Wilson also stressed that California would continue to streamline the process for factories like 3M’s, which manufactures computer tape, to bring business into the state.

“We want to slash red tape, not magnetic tape,” he said.

Before speaking to an audience of public officials and 3M employees, Wilson toured the plant’s recovery system, shaking hands with workers in hard hats and admiring the state-of-the-art equipment.

3M was singled out by the state Air Resources Board after it built the recovery system and after, in 1991, the company sold 78 tons of banked air-emission credits to the Oxnard-based Procter & Gamble Paper Products Co.

The transaction was made possible by a 1977 amendment to the Federal Clean Air Act allowing companies that reduce air pollution emissions below a certain level to place the amount of the reduction in a reserve account. The companies can draw on the account for later expansion, or, as 3M chose to do, sell the credits to another firm.

3M earmarked the $1.5-million proceeds from the sale for the establishment of the Ventura County Community Foundation to fund air-quality programs, including one that will help the South Coast Area Transit convert its buses to run on natural gas and another to pay for the rehabilitation of Buena High School’s solar water heater.

“I think that the time has come where large corporations are more aware of their responsibilities to their neighbors and to their environment,” said Jananne Sharpless, chairwoman of the Air Resources Board. “3M has proven that they are in a leadership role in that regard.”

Sharpless said that, as emissions standards become stricter, other companies will be forced to institute similar measures.

“What we are trying to do is show that there are costs that will increasingly become associated with those environmental problems,” she said.

3M officials said they were honored by the award but that recognition was not their primary goal.

“We want to be a good member of the community,” said plant manager Kevin Rubey. “We are very proud of these accomplishments. A lot of people worked very hard to make them a reality.”

One environmental activist, however, said she is skeptical that these improvements will have a major impact on air quality here.

“Some of the 3M projects have reduced emissions,” said Pat Baggerly, a board member of the county’s environmental coalition. “But what we really need to do is permanently retire the emissions that are in the air.”

Baggerly said that by allowing other plants to increase pollution by paying for 3M’s improvement credits, there is only a minimal gain.

But Richard Baldwin, director of the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District, which monitors the county’s air quality, said the credit system does work to reduce smog.

“There’s a decline every time there is a trade of credits,” Baldwin said. “It’s a declining cap that allows for plant expansions but always requires less pollutants be emitted. We think it’s a win-win situation.”