Sierra Club Breathes Easier, Governor Closes Smog Check Loophole

California becomes the second state, after Nevada, to test for smoke

SACRAMENTO, Calif., Sept. 29 -- The 200,000 Sierra Club members in California have reason to celebrate today as a loophole allowing smoking vehicles to pass Smog Check will soon be history, thanks to a new law signed this afternoon by Governor Schwarzenegger. AB 1870, authored by Assembly Member Sally Lieber, will help clean up California's air by mandating a simple visual test for smoke in all Smog Checks starting in 2008.

"Californians can now breathe easier thanks to this new smoke-test law," said Bill Magavern, senior representative for Sierra Club California. "In the past, smoking vehicles escaped repair because there was no visual smoke check. Studies have repeatedly shown that particulates from smoke can cause heart disease and early death."

This clean-air bill, sponsored by Sierra Club California, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the California Council for Environmental and Economic Balance, won bi-partisan support in the state legislature along with the support of health experts at the American Lung Association, air pollution control officers, automobile and oil companies.

"Closing the loophole was a small but necessary step," said Bill Haller, a Los Angeles activist who co-chairs Sierra Club California's Air Quality Committee. "However, we still have five counties in California with the dirtiest air in the United States. Government officials and organizations cannot afford to sit back and wait for other groups to take the lead while our children, elderly and infirm continue to suffer from the worst air in the nation."

http://www.sierraclubcalifornia.org/