Many California gas stations not equipped for today’s vapor limit

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Should California gas station owners have to pay tens of thousands of dollars to install new equipment to capture more vapors when you fill your tank? Groups like the American Lung Assn. and the Sierra Club say the first-in-the-nation rule is essential if asthma victims and other sufferers from smog are to find relief. Nearly three-quarters of Californians live in areas designated as having unhealthy air by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
The deadline for installing the new equipment is today, but a quarter of the state’s filling stations have failed to do so, saying they can’t afford it and can’t get credit from banks. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has asked the legislature to postpone the enforcement deadline for a year, and the debate begins today. How do you want your legislator to vote on that?
Read more about the issue here.

— Margot Roosevelt