Air-Quality Designation Shift May Cost Business

San Joaquin Valley businesses will need to spend $36 million by 2006 if officials change the federal air-quality designation for the area.

City officials are discussing changing from “severe nonattainment” of the federal ozone standard to “extreme nonattainment,” a category currently assigned solely to the South Coast Air Basin.

The cost to the valley could be $2 billion in federal road-building funds as well as fee increases for new and expanding businesses if the area misses another cleanup deadline, local air officials said.

The shift would buy the area five years and a fighting chance to meet the standard.