Good news!
The smog pump is designed only to operate for the first 2 minutes of cold startup, not while running, not on hot start. So the power loss is really negligible. Yes, it's an extra pulley to spin. But if it's functioning as designed you should never know its there. Which is why I decided to replace mine and it's good for the foreseeable future. And the car stays as designed, no weird belt, etc.
