SACRAMENTO – The California Air Resources Board (ARB), one of the six agencies of Cal/EPA, today approved a settlement proposal that ends its involvement in a lawsuit filed by Los Angeles environmental groups over adoption of measures needed to clean up Los Angeles' air.

        "Today's action effectively ends complaints against the ARB by Los Angeles- based environmental groups," said Michael Kenny, ARB Executive Officer.  "The settlement was approved because the ARB has adopted virtually every measure included in its 1994 State Implementation Plan (SIP)," he added.

        In 1994 the ARB adopted the nation's first complete clean air plan designed to improve the state's air quality, the nation's worst, by 2010.  The ARB was sued along with the South Coast Air Quality Management District for failing to adopt some SIP measures deemed necessary to achieve federal ozone standards by two Los Angeles environmental groups, the Coalition for Clean Air and Communities for a Better Environment.

        Dismissal of the lawsuit was agreed to by both sides after the ARB demonstrated that, with its recent adoption of measures to reduce emissions from sports utility vehicles, motorcycles, consumer products and personal watercraft, nearly every measure in the 1994 SIP had been adopted.  Combined emission reductions from those measures and others adopted since 1994 leave the ARB's SIP commitment about 42 tons per day short, according to ARB calculations.  In addition, since 1994 the ARB has adopted other important measures that reduce emissions from small utility engines, off-road recreational vehicles and has implemented specifications for the nation's cleanest gasoline and diesel fuels.

        The 1994 SIP is the state's blueprint for achieving healthy air quality throughout California with nearly all regions achieving federal ozone standards by 2005.  Los Angeles, the only area of the nation that has air quality listed as extreme by the US Environmental Protection Agency, is expected to meet federal standards by 2010.