Orange County 1988 : A Look at the Year Ahead : ENVIRONMENT : Anti-Smog Measures Will Take Effect and Toxic Waste Battle Will Intensify

The year 1988 will mean a year of changes, some subtle, in the county as environmental agencies adopt plans affecting motorists, residents, major employers, and environmentalists and developers alike.

For example, one clean-air strategy the South Coast Air Quality Management District adopted in 1987 could mean staggered working hours or ride sharing at large companies.

Businesses with 100 employees or more will be required to offer incentives to share rides or use public transit--strategies designed to reduce Southern California’s chronic smog problem.

In the Bolsa Chica area, 1,600 acres of environmentally sensitive wetlands are expected to move closer toward development in 1988. And a study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the feasibility of a nearby ocean channel also may be completed.

A bill on the wetlands sponsored by Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach) to allow a special district to sell bonds and issue permits is expected to be considered as early as January.

However, wetlands restoration--the goal of environmentalists--is not expected, at least not in 1988.

Meanwhile, federal and state health officials intend to cap Fullerton’s McColl dump as an interim measure to reduce odors at the site, where World War II aviation fuel waste was deposited. And an environmental impact report on possible cleanup methods should be completed in 1988.

Cleanup progress of toxic waste will continue in two new areas: a Westminster neighborhood where a tarlike sludge was discovered, and also in Cypress where Texaco must clean up a 144-acre former oil storage facility before 885 homes can be built by Cypress Homes Inc.