Smog Curbs Ordered on Home Products

In its long-running battle against smog, the state Air Resources Board on Thursday voted to require manufacturers of a lengthy list of consumer products--from hair mousse to air freshener--to reduce the amount of fumes that waft into California’s air.

The regulation, adopted unanimously, is the sixth sweeping set of pollution standards over the past 10 years that target items found in most Californians’ kitchens, garages and bathrooms.

Seventeen categories of products must comply, including furniture cleaners, insecticides, glass cleaning sprays, nail polish removers, windshield wiper fluids and engine degreasers. The new formulations will raise the cost of items by 2 cents apiece on average, the air board estimates.

As pollution from cars and industries declines, household items are responsible for a growing portion of the state’s smog problem. Windshield washers, for example, emit more than 8 tons of smog-forming gases daily in California, almost as much as the Los Angeles area’s massive oil refineries.

The eclectic array of consumer products is responsible for more than 54 tons of emissions per day statewide, and the new standards will eliminate 21 daily tons, equivalent to removing about half a million average cars from the roads, according to the air board’s estimates.

All but two of the 17 product categories already have been subject to less stringent limits set by the board. But the state was obligated, under terms of a legal settlement with environmental groups, to cut substantially more pollution in the Los Angeles Basin. The new rule satisfies nearly all of the emission reductions that the state agreed to implement.

Environmentalists welcomed Thursday’s decision, saying that the air board in recent years has been delaying and loosening some restrictions on household products to appease manufacturers.

“It’s certainly a lot more than they’ve done in the past. They have been going backward and forward on consumer products lately,” said Gail Ruderman Feuer, senior attorney with the Los Angeles office of the Natural Resources Defense Council, which sued the air board to adopt stronger rules.

Manufacturers of the products--accustomed to pollution limits in California--had few disagreements Thursday with the new standards, which reduce highly evaporative ingredients called volatile organic compounds. From automobile and boat engines to deodorants and paints, companies have been repeatedly able to find new, low-polluting technologies over the past 30 years of regulation, said air board spokesman Jerry Martin.

“Ten years ago, when we started regulating consumer products, the manufacturers said they couldn’t do it,” Martin said. “Now, in many cases, some are being regulated for the second or third time and the manufacturers are used to dealing with us.”

The deadlines, depending on the category, take effect between 2002 and 2004. Items that do not meet the requirements cannot be sold in California. Many of the new products are then marketed nationally.

Consumers may notice a change in some of the features of their popular products. Manufacturers will have to switch to water-based formulas or less polluting compounds such as acetone. Some may alter the container or propellant that delivers the product.

The air board staff concluded that all the new pollution limits are “technologically and commercially feasible” and that every product sold today will still be available. All but one category--a certain type of aerosol air freshener--has at least several brands already sold that meet the new standards.

Most of the debate at Thursday’s hearing came when companies disputed size restrictions for windshield washing fluids. The air board wanted containers of undiluted solutions to hold no more than one quart because they fear consumers would cause extra emissions by adding too little water.

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Consumer Product Pollution

The California Air Resources Board on Thursday set new pollution standards for 17 types of consumer products that will cut statewide smog-forming gases by 21 tons per day--equivalent to half a million average cars.

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Product category tons of emissions per day Automotive brake cleaners 5.6 Automotive windshield washer fluids 8.3 Air fresheners (aerosol) 4.57 Carburetor and fuel-injection air intake cleaners 6.48 Construction Adhesives 1 Crawling-bug insecticides 3.81 Engine degreasers 1.75 Flying-bug insecticides .6 Furniture maintenance products (aerosol) 1.98 General-purpose cleaners (non-aerosol) 7.95 General-purpose degreasers (non-aerosol) 3.36 Glass cleaners 3.48 Hair mousses .76 Lawn and garden insecticides 1.35 Nail-polish removers .85 Sealant and caulking compounds 1.87 Tire sealants and inflators .89 Total: 54 tons per day Emissions reduction under new rules: 21 tons per day

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* Source: Air Resources Board