The Smog Check II rocket that local opponents thought had been shot out of town last week apparently has lost momentum and is plummeting back toward Vacaville. Sen. Mike Thompson, D-Solano, thought he had a deal with Gov. Pete Wilson last Thursday to lift the population threshold for cities required to participate in the vehicle pollution testing program to 100,000. It made a surprise comeback Sunday, however, when the governor's staff informed Thompson of a condition he wanted to add.
Stationary sources are heavy industrial polluters, say a steel mill or an oil refinery.
The intent of Smog Check II was to clean the air in the urban basins of California that have nation's dirtiest air. The Senate approved the budget Monday and later passed the Smog Check bill by a two-thirds vote, which means the revisions could take effect immediately. The Assembly was not expected to vote on the trailer bill until this morning. I don't think it was quite as far along in exempting Vacaville as some people led us to believe. Heimerich disputed the locally held notion that Vacaville's primary source of air pollution is other communities, mainly in the Bay Area.