Time to clear the air So far this year, Gov. James McGreevey has signed more than 140 bills into law. Among those bills were laws to improve highway safety, raise benefits for government employees who retire, repeal the position of state poet laureate, and require shower rails in "certain senior citizen rental units." As amazing as it might seem in a state as heavily regulated as ours, there are still some worthwhile bills out there for the governor to sign. One of those is Senate bill S2351, which calls for the state to create standards mandating lower auto emissions beginning in 2006. Right now the bill is before the budget and appropriations committees in both the Senate and Assembly, but considering the broad support it enjoys — a majority of both Senate and Assembly members are listed as sponsors of the bill — you would expect it to reach the governor’s desk soon. Unfortunately, there are people in the Legislature who seem to be beholden more to special interests than to the voters who put them in office, and that is what is holding up the bill. Hopefully that situation will be properly resolved. New Jersey is a state that is a leader in many categories; sadly one such category is states with the worst air quality. That dubious distinction is due to many factors, but the one our state officials can do the most about is auto emissions, which are responsible for 40 percent of our smog and 80 percent of our airborne toxins. According to the American Lung Association, that pollution contributes to health problems for more than 700,000 of the state’s residents. Opponents to adopting standards that would help lower auto emissions say such regulation would be the death knell for auto dealers and manufacturing in the state. Of course Ford has already announced plans to close its Edison truck plant, so we know the legislation didn’t affect those jobs. What opponents don’t seem to consider is that no such thing has happened in California, the state upon whose laws the New Jersey regulations would be based. For that matter the rules have not seemed to affect the automobile industry in New York, Vermont or Maine either, all states that have adopted the higher standard. Several legislators, including Senate co-President John O. Bennett III, one of the lead sponsors of the bill, are in the closing days of their legislative career. It would be a fitting farewell for them to go out saying they did their part to clear the air.