CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SACRAMENTO : Hayden Sues Over Smog Check Program

A leading critic of California’s vehicle Smog Check program filed a federal lawsuit Friday to force the state to clean up its air under the threat of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of sanctions by the Environmental Protection Agency. Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica), who opposes California’s decade-old system of allowing smog inspections at service stations and repair shops, filed the suit against EPA and state officials. Hayden said he wants to force the EPA to penalize California unless the state changes its current system, in which nearly 10,000 licensed stations inspect vehicles and make needed repairs at the same site. This year, legislators approved a program similar to the current one but with improved computer capacity, a $450 cap on repairs and a four-year exemption for new cars. EPA Administrator Carol Browner has called for tougher measures but said she would delay sanctions pending negotiations between the federal EPA and the state--negotiations that Hayden said are enabling state and federal authorities to ignore the federal Clean Air Act.