UNOCAL EXTENDS CALIFORNIA CLEAN AIR CAMPAIGN

Jan. 9, 1995
Unocal Corp. has taken another step in its program to rid southern California of light vehicles whose exhaust emissions are blamed for much of the region's dirty air. Its latest move is disclosure of a bounty on 1,200 older autos, pickups, and vans. Starting this month, Unocal will pay $700 for pre-1972 model year and $600 for 1972-74 model year vehicles that are privately owned.

Unocal Corp. has taken another step in its program to rid southern California of light vehicles whose exhaust emissions are blamed for much of the region's dirty air.

Its latest move is disclosure of a bounty on 1,200 older autos, pickups, and vans.

Starting this month, Unocal will pay $700 for pre-1972 model year and $600 for 1972-74 model year vehicles that are privately owned.

The company's South Coast Recycled Auto Project (Scrap) is a campaign to remove from local highways some of the most polluting vehicles in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside counties and the nondesert portions of San Bernardino County. It got under way almost 5 years ago (OGJ, May 7, 1990, p. 54).

SCRAP IV

Unocal said its latest program, Scrap IV, specifically targets pre-1975 model year vehicles, which can emit 50-100 times more pollution per mile than new vehicles and account for a disproportionately high volume of all mobile emission sources in the Los Angeles Basin.

Vehicles acquired through the program will be scrapped and made available for self-service parts dismantling. Vehicles with special collector value will be resold to the public.

To qualify for the program, vehicles are required to comply with South Coast Air Quality Management District (Scaqmd) Rule 1610, which requires that vehicles must:

  • Be fully functional and driven under their own power to the Scrap program site.

  • Have been registered for the past 2 years to an address in the Scaqmd.

  • Be free of liens.

In addition, vehicles must not have been partially dismantled.

Unocal estimates this year's program will eliminate about 100,000 lb/year of hydrocarbons, 30,000 lb/year of nitrogen oxides, and 600,000 lb/year of carbon monoxide for 3 years. Since its first Scrap program in 1990, the company has eliminated more than 13 million lb of potential air pollution and removed more than 9,200 heavily polluting vehicles from southern California highways.

Unocal was the first company in the U.S. to purchase older, heavily polluting vehicles with advance approval to use the emission reductions as an offset to emissions from a stationary source.

The company will use most of the credits earned from scrapping older vehicles during Scrap IV to offset some of the emissions from its Los Angeles marine terminal.

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