Letters to the Editor: Regional air quality agency should use its authority to rein in smog

To the editor: Southern California has the smoggiest air in the country (“Los Angeles remains nation’s smoggiest city for 25th time in 26 years, despite progress,” April 23). The human toll of smog isn’t just numbers in a chart — it’s children on inhalers, elders rushed to the emergency room and lives cut short.

Local and state leaders must rise to the moment. The South Coast Air Quality Management District can lead by passing rules to transition homes toward clean and efficient electric heat pumps and water heaters. These rules, coupled with incentives, can help transform our smoggy air.

AQMD must not let fossil-fuel interests stand in the way of clean air. Pass strong rules to get pollution out of our homes and clean air into our lungs.

Christopher Chavez, Long Beach
This writer is deputy policy director of the Coalition for Clean Air.

..

To the editor: It’s good that we, as a society, continue to demand better air quality. I’m one of those readers who grew up in the L.A. basin in the ’50s and ’60s when smog was incomparably worse. No need for instruments then to detect ozone — its sweetish smell was obvious.

With so much pessimism about the world, it is important to remember and remind younger readers that things can get better.

Bob Wieting, Simi Valley