My Research Topic - Eric Brummett - Smog Policies in Socal (LA Specifically)

                                           Chambers they used to expose people to ozone for research


In my research project, I really wanted to explore why California has such strict policies when it comes to emissions and air pollution. I became interested in this because I mod vehicles and the policies really have made it expensive for me to make my vehicle faster and still comply with smog. I decided to start with researching what big event started the need for smog control in SoCal. I narrowed it down so that I am focusing on the Los Angeles area because that is where the big event of the “Smog Attack of 1943” happened and the creation of the first Air Pollution Control in the state was in LA County. In my project I plan on going into the early policies and how they were formed, the research that was done on emissions, and the automotive industry had to adapt to California's emission laws. I believe the evidence provided from a historical context will help us better appreciate the policies that we have to endure in order to protect the population.

My research will start with why there was a need for smog control. This began on July 26, 1943. There was a huge chemical cloud that came over LA. My source, “Smogtown” was a book written in a story-book like fashion to help describe the people running in terror because they thought it was a chemical attack by a foreign enemy. This was during the height of world war 2 and Pearl Harbor was still fresh in Americans minds so this wasn’t a far fetched fear. Through research and examining the particles that were in the air, it was found that the pollution was coming from dense smoke stacks and the exhaust of vehicles and locomotives. In 1946 Raymond R. Tucker, who was an air pollution specialist, actually confirmed this to the LA Times and recommendations on how to start slowing the spread of smog.

To start this long battle against smog, air pollution specialties needed more power. This was one of the recommendations from Tucker, so in 1947 the birth of Unified air pollution control districts started in California counties. This was the step in the direction of actually being able to narrow down the specific emissions that were the most harmful and work on changing them. In 1948 a chemist named Arie J. Haagen-Smit started to look at the plants that were damaged by smog. He found discoloration and bleaching on the leaves which lead to the discovery that the smog in LA was from exposure to the ozone. This is what caused eye irritation and respiratory problems. In the early 1950’s, officials took this evidence of the lingering ozone that was caused by sulfur dioxide deposits and started to work on limiting these deposits from diesel engines, garbage dumps, and smokestacks. This research was laid out in a brochure I found that goes through to 1997 where the air quality standards are still not expected to be met until 2010 as long as all emission plans are carried out.

When it comes to the ever changing emission laws that California has implemented, it has deeply affected the automotive industry. I wanted to dive into the laws and regulation that made it mandatory to have honeycombed catalytic convertors, a reformulation of an organic gas in 1996 that is only in California, and how at one point the auto industry thought that they were going to have to make a specific vehicle for California, then another for the rest of the country. I’m going to pull these three main points together as an effect of the Smog Attack and the laws and regulations that came after to show how far California has come in the battle against smog, and how much further it has to go.  


Comments

  1. Andrew DavidsonFebruary 9, 2021 at 4:16 PM

    First, I found your project to be interesting as well because I also mod my car and the smog regulations are a pain. I am curious myself to see how your project evolves. I think you did a great job of getting a broad topic and narrowing it down to the “Smog Attack of 1943.” You make a good historical argument on how the increase of smog has affected people and led to the creation of the Air Pollution Control. Also, you look into automobile industry because that is one reason why smog levels have increased so heavily in southern California.
    Your book, “Smogtown”, looks to be a helpful tool to display how even in 1943 smog scared people. You could possibly compare how the reaction to smog of those in 1943 from the book to how they later in history. Maybe even the in 1960s and 1970s where muscle cars and smog producing vehicles became the norm throughout American society. One suggestion for your sources that I have is maybe try to find more secondary sources. The books bibliography could also help find more sources and help you if you ever get stuck in your research process.
    You mainly discuss how the smog affects humans and more of the laws that were emplaced. I suggest you look into the effects of smog on the environment such as trees, animals, and other environmental factors. By doing this you could provide more support for why lawmakers passed such smog policies.

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