Dukakis Signs Tough Clean Air Bill Based on California Car Smog Law

BOSTON — Gov. Michael S. Dukakis Thursday signed a clean air bill that goes beyond new federal requirements to control auto emissions that contribute to smog.

The measure is based on California’s tough new standards. Supporters said Massachusetts is the first state in the nation to go along with California’s tighter controls.

State Rep. David Cohen, who sponsored the bill, said passage of the standards in Massachusetts may encourage other states to approve similar legislation.

Massachusetts’ air quality failed to meet federal health standards on at least 40 days during the last three summers.

“This law will help reverse that trend,” said Jenny Carter of the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group.

New York also is considering implementing the California standards, Benjamin Marvin of that state’s Department of Environmental Conservation said.

The Massachusetts measure calls for the new standards to be phased in beginning in 1993, but, in reality, state officials reached an agreement with automobile manufacturers to start the program with the 1995 model year.

Carter said she expects that most manufacturers will adapt to the new law by refining catalytic converters.

She estimated that the measure will cost consumers an extra $170 when they buy a new car, but tighter warranty standards included in the new law will help defray that one-time cost.

The plan calls for auto makers to reduce smog-causing hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide emissions by 50% to 75% beyond what is required under the new federal Clean Air Act, averaged over their entire fleet.

Dukakis said the federal government must do more to fight pollution and to save energy so that the United States can become less dependent on foreign energy supplies.

“There’s one other way to clean the air, and that’s to make automobiles more efficient,” Dukakis said.