Frank Lanterman – Grandfather of Modern Vehicle Emission Regulations

The name Lanterman runs deep in the history of La Cañada. It was Jacob and Amoretta Lanterman who came from Michigan in the 1870s and, with a partner, bought the entire Crescenta Cañada Valley. Their son Roy Lanterman built the Lanterman House in La Cañada in 1915, which now serves as a museum to the family’s local legacy. Roy’s two sons, Frank and Lloyd, lived on in the house and when they died they willed the house to the community.

But it was Frank who made the most enduring history as a long-running state assemblyman. In 1950 he was elected and his first mission was to solve the water problems of small but growing communities like La Cañada and La Crescenta. He then took on the treatment of the mentally disabled. But few know that he also championed the first laws fighting the then new phenomenon of smog.

Julie Yamashita, the archivist for the Lanterman House Museum, recently alerted me to an article in Road and Track magazine about Frank Lanterman’s fight against smog. The article by Brett Berk is titled “Mr. California: Meet The Man Who Put The State On The Map As The Leader In The Fight Against Vehicle Emissions.”

It should be no surprise that Frank Lanterman took on the fight against smog. His grandfather Jacob had come to the valley as a health-seeker to benefit from the clean dry air of the foothills. Selling land to others attracted by the clean air had made the family’s fortune. But by 1950, when Frank entered politics, the local air had become foul with car exhaust. Not only that – a planned freeway (today’s 210) promised even worse pollution.

In January 1955, Lanterman co-sponsored AB 3574, which stated “no motor vehicle shall be operated upon the highways unless it is equipped with a muffler of a type approved by the department as being sufficient to remove air pollutants in a manner consistent with reasonable air pollution control practices.” This bill was the first law proposed in the nation that would address air pollution. Sadly, the bill did not pass.

But Lanterman was nothing if not relentless. He continued to champion the science behind pollution controls, often finding himself at odds with the automotive and petroleum industries. By the mid-’60s, Lanterman was supporting a similar bill that did pass, the first state law that would regulate tailpipe emissions. In 1967, he proposed a centralized state board to standardize air pollution controls. (Ironically, Lanterman had entered politics as a staunch government deregulator.)

In the 1970s, Lanterman redoubled his anti-air pollution efforts. Although not always successful, he introduced bills that would have increased registration fees for higher polluting engines and went after industry efforts to slow down anti-pollution legislation. He went after some sideline pollution sources, such as gasoline fume evaporation, and even pollutants from agricultural waste. He successfully introduced measures for more stringent inspections and testing of tailpipe emissions. But he failed at a measure that would require new cars to be fuel-injected and to remove lead from gasoline. (That particular law was later successfully passed.)

Lanterman even got into non-polluting alternative power sources, oddly enough aligning himself with steam power. He introduced legislation that would fund studies on steam-powered cars and buses.

Frank Lanterman continued on this path until he retired from politics in 1978. He had been an incredibly prolific legislator, garnering the nickname “The Workhorse of Sacramento.” Throughout his political career, Lanterman had fought a losing battle against the 210 and 2 freeways. In a case of complete irony, the state named the 2 Freeway the Frank Lanterman Freeway. But as we drive up the 2 Freeway – the Lanterman Freeway – we can see clearly the Crescenta Valley, a view much improved over the dark smoggy days of the 1960s when the valley was hidden in a grey haze. And that is directly tied to the efforts of Frank Lanterman, one of the earliest smog fighters.