CLEAN AIR AND BOATS

The quest for clean air continues, thanks to the Environmental Protections Agency. After mandating strict standards for motor vehicles and lawn mowers, the EPA has targeted outboard motors used on fishing and ski boats by millions of Americans seeking recreation.

The cost of a boat motor will go up 10 to 15 percent to offset the hundreds of millions of dollars manufacturers will spend to change their products to low-emission designs. The trade-off, the EPA says, will be improved fuel efficiency, as much as 30 percent in most cases.

The United States continues to find ways to make the air better to breathe. Smog caused by engine emissions can irritate the respiratory system. But other countries are less enthusiastic about controlling wastes that spew into the environment. The former Soviet Union, for example, had virtually no controls on industry and manufacturing, producing a wasteland to be addressed by the struggling remnants of the former empire. China, so far as anyone can tell, has no environmental programs.

Then there are the natural polluters: Volcanoes, forest fires, flatulent cows and the like. And what about fireplaces in the family room? When will the EPA decide firewood has to go?

It is hard to drum up opposition to efforts to make the air more pure. Most makers of outboard boat motors agree with the EPA's efforts and intend to introduce upgraded products well before the 1998 deadline. Meanwhile, thousands of boats will be running with old, hydrocarbon-spewing engines until they wear out. The EPA estimates that will take more than two decades.