DIAMOND BAR, Calif. - Southern Californians with the worst-polluting cars would be tracked by sensors and offered money to repair or scrap them for cleaner models under a plan approved Friday by the region's smog-fighting agency.
The board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District approved a $4 million program that aims to take 1,000 to 2,000 smog-spewing cars off the road.
Beginning early next year, the pilot program would involve scanning 1 million vehicles in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Remote sensors will use infrared and ultraviolet light and computers to measure tailpipe emissions from passing cars. The sensors will include video cameras to snap photos of the license plates of vehicles. Owners of the worst-polluting 1 percent to 2 percent of cars will be contacted and offered a chance to receive up to $500 in repairs in order to meet smog check requirements, or $1,000 to scrap the car.
The agency didn't say where the sensors would be located.
The AQMD said some people who meet state poverty guidelines will be eligible to receive up to $3,000 to scrap their cars if they agree to replace them with a used vehicle that meets pollution guidelines. The money would come either as a voucher or as reimbursement after proof is supplied that another car was purchased.
"Gross-polluting vehicles make up about 10 percent of the passenger vehicle fleet, and yet they are responsible for at least 50 percent of the air pollution from that fleet," AQMD board Chairman William Burke said in a statement.
"For the first time, we will be identifying these gross polluters and giving motorists an incentive to repair or replace their vehicles," he said.
