A legal logjam that has stopped regional regulators from issuing smog credits for a variety of projects could be broken by new legislation signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger – one in a stack of environmental bills signed by the governor Sunday that could help stimulate the Southern California economy.

The bills, among many signed to meet a legislative deadline,  include everything from banning lead wheel-weights on cars to cutting greenhouse gas emissions from buildings.

The smog credit bill modifies a court-ordered moratorium on air-pollution emission credits issued by the South Coast Air Quality Management District. It’s expected to free up 60,000 jobs and $4 billion worth of economic activity in Southern California, the governor’s office said.

Businesses such as power plants must have the credits before they can receive permits for new construction.

The other bills would:

• Cut greenhouse gas emissions and create green construction jobs by requiring the California Energy Commission to create an energy efficiency program for homes and businesses.
• Order the state Air Resources Board to regulate nitrogen trifluoride, a gas used in manufacturing but believed to possess 17,000 times more global-warming potential than carbon dioxide.
• Create the Sonoma County Regional Climate Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gases.
• Allow construction of clean-burning, natural gas power plant in Riverside County expected to stimulate $900 million in new investment and create 350 jobs.
• Allow electric utility customers who install solar panels or wind-power systems on their property to be paid by utilities for the extra energy they produce.
• Expand requirements for utility companies to purchase solar power, potentially stimulating installation of large solar power systems. 
• Prohibit sale and installation of lead wheel weights, used to balance wheels but thought to be a major source of lead contamination in drinking water when they pop off the wheels onto roadways.
• Grant local water agencies more authority to regulate salt content in water supplies in a bid to reduce excess salinity caused by residential water softenersHOW.

(Register photo showing Schwarzenegger chatting with EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson during a recent announcement of green stimulus funds in Long Beach by Mark Rightmire.)

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