Tired of paying for auto emissions tests? Some lawmakers want to end annual testing
A package of bills introduced in the state Senate would remove the auto emissions testing requirement on vehicles 8 years old or newer. The testing on older vehicles registered in counties that require the testing would happen every other year instead of annually under this proposal.
By Sasha Hupka | For PennLive
Every year, millions of Pennsylvanians drive to a nearby garage for their annual auto emissions test.
But a recently announced package of bills would reform the emissions testing program, removing the testing requirement for vehicles that are 8 years old or newer.
The state currently requires the annual emissions test in 25 counties with the highest traffic volumes in the state, including Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, and York counties. The tests are required for all gas-powered vehicles made in 1975 or later.
State Sen. Kim Ward, R- Westmoreland County, is the primary sponsor of legislation to scrap the annual test.
For older models of gas-powered passenger cars, vans, and light-duty trucks, legislation calls for changing the annual emissions testing to a two-year testing requirement. It also would remove seven of the 25 counties from the testing program altogether. None of those seven – Blair, Cambria, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Lycoming, Mercer and Westmoreland – are in the southcentral Pennsylvania region.
The proposed bills, supported by several Republicans in the state Senate, would also extend the deadline for inspection stations to obtain new emissions testing equipment and change the tailpipe and two-speed idle tests in counties surrounding Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
Ward, the chairwoman of the Senate Transportation Committee, wrote that 96 percent of vehicles pass their annual emissions test. The annual test is a costly and unnecessary burden on vehicle owners in the state — particularly those with brand-new vehicles, she argues.
The average price of a vehicle emissions test is $39, according to Kurt Myers, deputy secretary for driver and vehicle services of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
"Vehicle emissions testing has become less effective at reducing air pollution, particularly due to newer, more fuel-efficient vehicles entering the fleet," Ward wrote. "There is also compelling evidence that vehicles are continuously passing the annual vehicle emissions testing."
Chris Priar, owner of Hampden Automotive in Hampden Township, said he has mixed feelings about the proposed testing changes. Most of the vehicles he tests for emissions are newer models and at least 75 percent of them pass.
But for those that don't pass, he said it will eliminate the need for those motorists to fix their vehicle if it is running normally – even if the car is producing levels of toxic gases that exceed defined limits.
Some of the changes to Pennsylvania's emissions testing also would not be unprecedented. Several states, including neighboring New York and New Jersey, already have biennial emissions inspections and exempt newer vehicles from testing.
But others are concerned that exempting counties from the testing could hurt efforts to curb pollution.
The emissions testing program was initially implemented in Pennsylvania in response to the 1990 passage of an amendment the federal Clean Air Act.
David Masur, executive director of PennEnvironment, called the bills "misguided," and said undoing the emissions testing program already in place will only serve to worsen air quality.
"It seems like we're going the wrong way," Masur said. "Research has shown it is already unhealthy to breathe on many days in metropolitan areas around the Commonwealth. It would be great to see our elected officials say, 'How can we take more steps to protect public health?'"
Chris Trostle, section chief of mobile sources with the Bureau of Air Quality in the state Department of Environmental Protection, said in a Senate hearing earlier this month on the proposals that removing counties from the testing could have an adverse impact on air quality.
According to Trostle, ozone can travel from one region to another, which is why the emissions testing is important, even in counties where air quality is not a concern.
"Pennsylvania is both a downwind recipient of air pollution and an upwind contributor of air pollution in this region," Trostle said. "The benefits upwind regions of the state have been experiencing have not been realized as much in many downwind areas, so therefore, it is necessary to have a [testing] program."
The Joint State Government Commission also filed a report on the proposal, concluding that "removal of any county from air quality regulations would result in adverse public health and environmental consequences."
Nevertheless, Ward wrote that the counties that could be exempted are fully meeting federal air quality standards, and she and her co-sponsors will continue to pursue efforts to change the emissions testing requirements.
"Following this hearing, we are convinced that we can make meaningful changes to an unnecessary sanction created 30 years ago," she wrote.