Appointee Stirs Concerns

Business Worries About Environmental Activist at AQMD

Some business interests are concerned by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s recent appointment of Joseph Lyou to fill a vacancy on the 12-member board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the region’s air quality regulator.

Lyou, a resident of Hawthorne who serves as executive director for the California Environmental Rights Alliance, has a long history of environmental activism. He previously worked for one of the state’s top environmental groups, the League of Conservation Voters. In the 1990s, he helped found the Committee to Bridge the Gap, which has pressured regulators to crack down on cleanup of contamination from the Rocketdyne facility in the Santa Susana Mountains.

But not all local businesspeople are as concerned.

Some say Lyou has demonstrated a willingness to work with business, especially in his role on the toxics management working group at the AQMD.

“I’ve seen him working with industry and he does have some middle-of-the-road credibility,” said Laird of Coatings Resource who’s also a longtime AQMD watcher.

Lyou himself said that while he will listen to concerns about the impact of the agency’s regulations on business.

“My foremost concern is the impact of pollution on public health, especially in poor communities,” he said.

Source: Orange County Business Journal
July 16, 2007

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