South Coast Air Quality management District.

AQMD helping small business comply with clean air rules

In tough economic times, what were once simply responsibilities can become struggles. Keeping a job. Meeting a payroll. Achieving clean air health standards.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District is committed to working

In addition, the state law that governs the AQMD specifically called for the creation of an office of small business assistance "to provide administrative and more technical services" to small firms unaccustomed to air quality regulations.

More recently, however, AQMD has expanded its services to small business by providing loan guarantees for air pollution control equipment and no-fault compliance inspections. We have implemented a package of reforms called "Keeping the Clean Air Promise: New Directions in Air Quality Management" designed to ease AQMD's impact on the Southland's business climate. Recently, AQMD added new reform elements specifically benefitting small businesses.

AQMD's door is literally open to any business person who is having trouble meeting requirements to reduce pollution. AQMD board chairman Henry Wedaa has opened his office at AQMD headquarters from 8 a.m. to noon every Tuesday to anyone who wants to meet with him--by appointment or walk-in.

This is in addition to the longstanding opportunities available to business people who need assistance in dealing with AQMD, either through our Small Business Assistance Office or through my office. As public advisor, I act as liaison for business, community and environmental advocates who want their voices heard in AQMD policy.

These are some of the AQMD programs designed to encourage both a healthy economy and a healthful environment:

New reforms Our "New Directions for Small Business" reforms include:

* Expanding AQMD's definition of "small business" for assistance programs.

* Proposing to streamline record-keeping requirements from daily to monthly for users of paints, coatings, solvents and fuel (it still requires federal EPA approval).

* Offering no-fault compliance inspections at the business owner's request. No violation notices will be issued for any problems uncovered, as long as the business agrees to correct the problem.

* Simplifying procedures to eliminate the need for firms to hire an attorney when they seek a variance from AQMD rules, and to allow groups of companies to seek group variances when they face similar compliance difficulties.

* Publishing simplified step-by-step compliance handbooks that explain air quality regulations in each industry.

* Expanding AQMD branch office services in Pasadena, Long Beach, Cerritos, Anaheim, Colton and Antelope Valley to reduce the need to drive to Diamond Bar.

* Increasing outreach to small businesses through brochures, newsletters, community cable TV, and by AQMD inspectors and engineers.

* Streamlining and simplifying forms for permit applications, annual emissions reports and other needs.

Counselors provide industry expertise

Air quality permits and rules are part of doing business in Southern California. AQMD counselors can help take the guesswork out of the compliance process for many small businesses.

Fourteen AQMD staff members attend to your needs in the small business assistance office, including AQMD air quality engineers and inspectors who share their technical expertise and knowledge of specific industries.

Our clean-air agency encourages business owners to think of our staff as an extension of their own. In a sense, the experienced small business staff act as valuable consultants--and their time is free of charge.

The office can help a business person:

* find out if they need an air pollution permit;

* complete a permit application;

* understand AQMD rules;

* request a temporary variance if a business needs extra time to comply with a rule;

* make sure billing is correct;

* find sources of financing for pollution control equipment; and

* apply for a loan guarantee of up to $250,000.

Coming up with the cash

In addition to referring businesses to appropriate lending institutions, AQMD has set aside $3 million from its fines and penalties to establish a loan guarantee program. The guarantee is designed to help small business owners get lower interest rates and longer repayment terms from lenders.

AQMD's first loan guarantee recently went to a family-owned dry cleaner, Brownie's Suede & Leather, in Huntington Beach. Brownie's purchased pollution control equipment with a $168,000 loan from the State of California's CLEAN program (Clean Loans for Environmental Assistance Now), which is cosponsored by AQMD.

A business seeking an AQMD loan guarantee can either contact AQMD while arranging a bank loan, or seek our assistance in locating a lender. A business may be eligible if it:

* meets the definition of small business set by the U.S. Small Business Administration;

* is located within AQMD's jurisdiction; and

* is subject to AQMD regulations.

Guarantees can be issued for up to 90% of a loan's principal and accrued interest. For information about loan guarantees, business owners should contact LaRonda Bowen at (714) 396-3225 or Nanci Hawley at (714) 396-3193.

For information about other AQMD small business services, Los Angeles County businesses should call (714) 396-3218; Orange County businesses, (714) 396-3210; and Riverside and San Bernardino County businesses, (714) 396-3193.

More help

In conjunction with the state Commerce Department and Fullerton College, AQMD sponsors the Business Environmental Assistance Center in Anaheim, which provides general assistance to businesses trying to comply with environmental regulations.

Small businesses will also benefit from a new public-private partnership to develop and transfer clean air technologies to local businesses at no cost.

AQMD has joined with Southern California Edison, the California Manufacturer's Association, Northrop, Rockwell International, TRW and other prominent aerospace companies in a $3.2 million program to demonstrate emission reduction technologies in 20 projects.

These projects will include development of low ozone-forming solvents, solders and adhesive materials to replace chemicals or processes commonly used by business today.

This public-private partnership provides a common ground where business and government technologists and technology policy makers can come together as a team to help solve air quality problems.

AQMD will share the cost of funding each project and ensure that results are shared with local business groups.

Balancing the scales for small companies

Why the attention to smaller enterprises? The answer is two-fold. First, because they have been controlled for decades, large organizations that emit the greatest amounts of pollution per site (such as refineries, utilities, factories) have built-in resources and experience that small ones lack. Large organizations often employ full departments of environmental engineers to handle regulatory permits, and staffs of attorneys to appear at rulemaking hearings.

The need to balance the scales between large and small businesses is propelled by still another force--the increasing numbers of smaller firms affected by air quality rules. Small businesses produce 80 tons of smog-forming emissions daily and are the fastest growing segment of this region's emissions.

If small businesses are unable to reduce emissions, the South Coast Air Basin will fail to achieve healthful air. And the public's health will be endangered.

We believe small businesses want to help protect public health. With this common understanding and mutual respect, there is absolutely no reason why AQMD and business cannot work together to become partners in clean air. We're listening to business concerns and changing our ways to accommodate business needs.