State: Tailpipe testing revisited by EPA

Tailpipe testing revisited by EPA

Backing up in the face of protest, the agency seeks more public comment before deciding whether to approve the end of testing in four Florida counties.

By CRAIG PITTMAN

So many Floridians have objected to ending emissions testing that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is reconsidering its approval of halting the tailpipe tests in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach and Jacksonville.

The Legislature voted last month to end all emissions tests, which are currently mandatory for car owners in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Duval counties.

Gov. Jeb Bush has until June 13 to decide whether to sign the bill into law.

The tests are part of an EPA-approved program for dealing with Florida's air pollution problems. In four of those counties the air has improved, so last year the EPA gave the state tentative approval to end tests in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Duval counties.

Pinellas and Hillsborough's air has not improved and, despite the Legislature's action, the EPA has not approved an end to the tests in the Tampa Bay area.

Before granting final approval to ending the tests anywhere, EPA officials had asked for public comment. Last week, EPA Regional Administrator John Hankinson wrote to Florida environmental regulators to say his agency has received more than 700 letters about ending the tests, primarily from residents of South Florida.

Of those, he said, 96 percent came from people opposed to halting the testing program.

Because of the outpouring of opposition, Hankinson wrote to state Department of Environmental Protection officials, "we are going to reopen the public comment period and hold a public hearing in the near future."

Kay Prince of the EPA's air planning branch in Atlanta said Thursday that the public hearing would probably occur somewhere in South Florida in July. She called the agency's decision to hold the hearing "very unusual," but said public input is very important to the agency's decisions.

The EPA letter came as a surprise to opponents of testing. The EPA's approval of ending the tests in South Florida "had been one of the foundation pieces of the legislation," said Greg Champeau, legislative aide to state Sen. Ron Klein, D-Delray Beach, who sponsored the bill.

The outpouring of opposition was a surprise, too. Champeau said that his boss has heard little but praise from his constituents for ending the $10 annual tests, often labeled by opponents as an annoying government boondoggle.

However, Larry George of the DEP's Division of Air Resources Management said when his agency held hearings last year, virtually all the comments were from people who wanted to keep the tests -- although many came from employees of the companies operating the testing stations.

Florida is one of 37 states with mandatory emissions tests. Only one state has ended its testing program: Minnesota, which waited to get EPA approval first.

Emissions testing is considered an important tool for fighting pollution because poorly maintained vehicles account for up to half of the smog-causing pollution in urban areas.

Florida's tailpipe tests check to see whether cars are so poorly tuned that they put out excessive amounts of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons. On sunny days, hydrocarbons combine with nitrogen oxide to form ozone. Ozone can lead to sore throats, chest pains, coughing and headaches.

In the past three years, Florida's air quality has worsened, primarily because of rising levels of nitrogen oxide, or NOx, which has been attributed to increased traffic. Florida has never tested cars for NOx emissions. Despite a consultant's strong recommendation, state legislators have refused to consider adding that test.

Supporters of keeping the tests praised EPA officials for seeking more public comment. Virginia Littrell of the Florida Consumer Action Network called it "wonderful." F-CAN has been mobilizing its members to call and write the governor and urge him to veto the bill for public health reasons.

John Chancellor of the American Lung Association of Gulfcoast Florida, which has also urged a veto, said the strong opposition the EPA has seen shows state lawmakers were not doing the public's will when they voted to end the tests.

"All this hue and cry about long lines ... is a figment, I think," Chancellor said. He said he had to take a car in for testing this month and "I didn't have to wait at all. I just drove right in."