AIR 1. in What May Eventually Come to Be Seen As a Major Victory for Air
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AIR 1. In what may eventually come to be seen as a major victory for air- pollution sufferers and what is now a victory for san Diego employers of more than a hundred employees, County Supervisor Brian Bilbray announced Thursday that he was able to convince the state Air Resources Board to reduce the San Diego region's air quality designation from "severe" to "serious". The downward reclassification marks the progress that San Diego has made in improving its air quality over the past several years . There are a number of benefi ts to the region of this reclassification. First, air quality is one of the measures used by relocation specialists in comparing a region's attractiveness to new businesses. Previously, although San Diego residets know that their air quality is basically good, the higher classification had placed it in the "top ten" List of dirty air regions. Most important to smog sufferers, is that Bilbray has helped refocus attention on the real cause of smog - first, "transport smog" carried from the Los Angeles basin on days when the Santa ana winds blow it South, and on those vehicles whose smog devices have been removed, whose engines are out-of tune, or vehicles produced before catalytic converters were introduced in 1981? The San Diego Air Pollution Control District has identified thi s class of vehicles, called "Gross Polluters", as producing fully fifty percent of the mobile source smog, while making up only ten percent of the number of vehicles. Speaking at the press conference, CONNECT Director Bill Otterson said, "you can't begin to solve a problem until you have properly identified it. Now we know that "gross polluters" are the main target, and we can begin to create solutions to this problem. Trying to blame and penalize businesses wouldn't prove effacacious, accoeding to CONNECT's Terry Bibbens, who has been spearheading this issue. "Even if the Trip Reduction Plan program had been completely successful, it would have reduced pollution by only 1 per cent, but it would have cost employers $1,000 - $1200 per employee per year - an amount that exceeds the cost of workers ' compenst i on. Some of the high-tech solutions that might help with the "gross polluter" problem include retrofitable catalytic converters for older cars, smog sensors that can identify polluters while the car is under-way and high precision photo devices that can identify drivers and License numbers of effendi ng cars. "Terry has been working on this problem almost full time, since January, bringing together the Greater San Diego Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development Corporation, the San Diego County Economic Development Committee, the Mayor's Council on Economic Development, the Biomedical Industry Council (BIC), the Biocommerce ?/ (Biocom) the Sierra Club and CONNECT," said Otterson, "and the results are clearly worth the effort. CONNECT members and sponsors with more than a hundred employees could save from $100,000 to $1 million per year!" UCSD CONNECT 2. CONNECT would Like to thank ..... XXXXXX for generously underwriting the 1994 CONNECT Directory. 3. The Career Services Center at UCSD, can be used for recruiting UCSD undergrads and grads, including engineers, programmers, biologists, marketing types, etc .. CONNECT wants all members and sponsors to keep their Literature on file in the Center ' s Library for access by job applicants. E~loyer Relations Coordinator, Marcy Swain, says there are still plenty of recent grads in teh availability pipeline. Call her at 534-3750 to List job openings or to send Literature. Mention that you are a CONNECT member. 4. Applications are now being taken for CONNECT's Most Innovative Product Award competition. To be eligible, products must have been developed in San Diego and had their first sales betwen Sept. 16, 1992 and Sept. 15, 1993. Categories are: biotech/biomedical, high tech, software and "Other". The Award Luncheon is scheduled Dec. 8. Call 534-6114 for information or an appplication. WARD VALLEY 1 AIR QUALITY CONTROL - TRIP REDUCTION PLANS 1. In what may eventually come to be seen as a major victory for air-pollution sufferers and what is now a victory for San Diego employers of more than a hundred employees, County Supervisor Brian Bilbray announced Thursday that he was able to convince the state Air Resources Board to reduce the San Diego region's air quality designation from "severe" to "serious." The downward reclassification marks the progress that San Diego has made in improving its air quality over e past several years. There are a number of benefits to the ion of this reel · tion. · s · by lac ·o Most important to smog sufferers, is that Bilbray has helped refocus attention on the real cause of smog- first, "transport smog" carM· from the Los Angeles basin on days when the Santa Ana winds blow it South, and seco . , ose vehicles whose smog devices have been removed, whose engines are out-of-tune, r ehicles produced before catalytic converters were introduced in 1981. The San Diego ir Pollution Control District has identified this class of vehicles, called "Gross Polluters, .. as producing 50% of the mobile source smog, while making up only 10% of the number of vehicles. Speaking at the press conference, CONNECT Director Bill Otterson said, "you can't begin to solve a problem until you have properly identified it. Now we know that "gross polluters" are the main target, and we can begin to create solutions to this problem." Trying to blame and penalize businesses wouldn't prove efficacious, according to CONNECT's Terry Bibbens, who has been spearheading this issue. "Even if the Trip Reduction Plan program had been completely successful, it would have reduced pollution by only 1 %, but it would have cost / employers $1,000- $1200 per employee per year- an amount that exceeds the cost of workers' compensation. Some of the high-tech solutions that might help with the "gross polluter" problem include retrofitable catalytic converters for older cars, smog sensors that can identify polluters and high precision photo devices that can identify drivers and license numbers of offending cars. "Bibbens has been working on this problem almost full time, since January, bringing together the Greater San Diego Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development Corporation, the San Diego County Economic Development Committee, the Mayor's Council on Economic Development, the Biomedical Industry Council (BIC), the Biocommerce Association (Biocom), the Sierra Club and CONNECT," said Otterson, "and the results are clearly worth the effort. 1 UCSD CONNECT 2. CONNECT would like to thank David Winkler and Ivan Gayler, Del Mar Partnership; Jan Thompson, Drake Beam; Russell Snow, First Interstate Bank; Martina Knee, Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe; John McMahon, Johnson & Higgins; Guy Ianuzzi, Mentus, Inc.; Shelley Hanan, Morgan Stanley; Tom Darcy, Price Waterhouse; and Don Felsinger, SDG&E for generously underwriting the 1994 CONNECI Directory. 3. The Career Services Center at UCSD can be used for recruiting UCSD students including engineers, programmers, biologists, marketing types, etc. CONNECI wants all Members and Sponsors to have their literature on file in the Center's library for access to job applicants. Employer Relations Coordinator, Marcy Swain, says there are still plenty of recent grads in the availability pipeline. Call her at 534-3750 to list job openings or to send literature. Mention that you are a CONNECT Member. 4. Applications are now being accepted for CONNECI's "1993 Most Innovative Product Awards" competition. To be eligible, products must have been developed in San Diego and had their first sales between Sept. 16, 1992 and Sept. 15, 1993. Categories are: Biotech/Biomedical; High-Tech Electronics; Software; and "Category X". The Awards Luncheon is scheduled for December 8. Call 534-6114 for information or an application. WARD VALLEY 5. Daniel Semick, Senior Evaluator, Energy Issues, General Accounting Office (GAO), met with Ken Widder, Chairman, Molecular Biosystems, Inc.; Bernie Rhinerson, Executive Director, Biomedical Industry Council; and CONNECI Director, Bill Otterson to gain X" information for a GAO report onSlteceaflue• i'A Ward Valley. Semick, a major contributor to the GAO report, "New York's Adherence to Site Selection Procedures is Unclear," has been involved with the Low Level Radioactive Waste (LLRW) controversy for years. He first met with Alan Pasternak, Scientific Director, CalRad, where he learned of the frustrations facing the University and biomedical companies regarding LLRW disposal. During his tour, he visited Gensia, Inc. where he saw and photographed that company's temporary storage trailer in the parking lot. He would also like to get photographs of the Salk Institute and Prizm Pharmaceuticals storage facilities. Jc_ 6. It becomes increasingly clear that LLRW disposal is a national iss...,.;1ilai, ti;;.--:;;;..::~ tfl,, l "'5-att Dlegans, is only now becoming apparent on the national scene\ The above mentio GAO report focussed on New York's problems in siting. e 1 Siting decision five years ago! Another report, "Connecticut's First Site Selection Process for a Disposal Facility," dated April1993, analyzes that stafe's first attempt in selecting a site. With this failure, Connecticut is behind New York in its process. Major institutions, like Memorial Sloan Kettering, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Mayo Clinic, etc. have no current alternatives other than the soon-to-close Barnwell, South Carolina, site. Yet, the directors of these prestigious institutions appear to be unaware of the approaching storm. Since it would clearly be to' the advantage of California's project proponents to gain the support of the nation on the basis that we are "the lightening rod" or the "LLRW disposal salient," readers can anticipate more efforts from CONNECI on the national level. 2 FEDERAL FOOD & DRUG ADMINISTRATION (FDA) 7 ' 7. Terry Bibbens is continuing to pull together groups to work on the FD Speed-up rogram.