The following is a statement by California Air Resources Board Chairman John Dunlap in response to USEPA's adoption of new federal clean air standards:

        California leads the nation in clean-air measures that protect public health. We support vital, protective public health standards. USEPA must work with us as a partner, not a dictator, as it attempted to do with the 1994 Federal Implementation Plan, and it must not impose on California a one size fits all plan.

        California's State Implementation Plan for ozone is the most advanced control plan in the world. Our clean-air plan can still remain the firm roadmap as California's smog-fighting strategy if (and only if) Washington resists its traditional temptation to dictate to the rest of the country.

        The Clinton administration should follow California's common sense example and develop flexible policies that allow states to pursue air quality improvement with economic progress hand in hand. Clearly, others share our concerns, from our industrial and economic base to the nation's mayors.

        We wait anxiously for the proof that new federal clean air regulations are indeed flexible, sensible and economically viable.