Fee for bad air in San Joaquin Valley might remain

A special DMV fee paid by San Joaquin Valley drivers to clean up the notoriously polluted air may not be going away, despite the fact that the region finally has met the outdated federal standard that prompted the fee in the first place.

Nothing has been decided for certain. The $12 annual fee could be decreased, maintained or even increased.

But it won’t be going away by default. Stricter air quality standards have since been implemented, and officials say it will cost billions to comply.

Whatever happens with the fee, the good news is Valley air quality officials now finally are able to ask the federal government for permission to get rid of it if that’s what local officials decide to do.

“This is something we’ve been waiting for for years — actually, for decades,” said Seyed Sadredin, executive director of the Valley Air Pollution Control District.

To understand all of this, it’s necessary to venture into the complex — some would say bizarre — world of federal air quality standards.

For decades, the Valley failed to meet a short-term ozone pollution standard that the feds enacted in 1979. Significant improvements were made over time.

But still, the region was out of compliance and faced the threat of sanctions.

Rather than forcing Valley businesses to pay a $29 million annual penalty that would have gone straight to the U.S. Treasury, the air district got permission to slap a new registration fee on drivers instead and use the money to pay for programs to clean the air.

The rationale was that businesses already have paid $40 billion to reduce their pollution. It was time for the rest of us to chip in, since mobile sources, including vehicles, account for 85 percent of the remaining pollution, officials said.

That’s why the DMV fee was approved in 2010.

The air district last week basically promised the feds that the standard will be met for another 10 years and formally requested a finding from the Environmental Protection Agency that will give local officials control over whether the DMV fee continues.

The kicker is that the standard in question no longer exists. It was revoked in 2005 and replaced by a tougher goal. But the Valley still is required to meet the old, defunct standard or be penalized.

The whole process seems to be “divorced from logic,” said Bob Elliott, a San Joaquin County supervisor who sits on the air district’s Board of Directors.

“It just seems amazing and convoluted that we would be taking an action like this,” he said at a meeting last week.

As for the future of the fee, other challenges are looming. Newer standards for ozone and tiny particle pollution will be even harder to meet, officials say, due to the Valley’s terrain and pollution blowing overseas from Asia. They say another $26 billion in may be required.

Which is why the extra $12 you’re paying each year may not go away anytime soon, though no decision is expected until next fall.

“Clearly, these are critical funds,” said Alexander Sherriffs, a family physician who sits on the air district board. “We will need every dollar.”