Delay in smog inspection may hurt in California

Because California has failed to pass a smog inspection and maintenance program, it may lose $750 million in federal public works grants, Monitor correspondent Brad Knicker- bocker reports. The Environmental Protection Agency requires such programs in 29 states, and California (which has nearly one-third of the nation's autos) is one of only three states not yet making such inspections. Last summer the EPA banned construction of major new pollution- producing factories in California pending a smog program, but the state Legislature is still bogged down over the subject. The agency hopes to speed things up with its latest threat.