Emissions test may come to county (Pennsylvania rural counties)

STATE COLLEGE - Motorists in Centre County and 15 other counties statewide may soon drive into the state emissions inspections now confined to Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

And, if Philadelphia prices are any indicator, those environmentally friendly check-ups could cost some $50 each. For now, at least, that's a price paid only in the nine counties that comprise Pennsylvania's two biggest metropolitan areas.

But a federal judge in Philadelphia ruled last month that Pennsylvania has violated the federal Clean Air Act. The breach happened when officials missed a 1999 deadline to implement tailpipe exhaust tests in most of the state's industrialized areas.

"Considering the amount of money you have to put into the equipment for testing, I don't know if it's worth it," said Carroll Keys, manager of Walk's Service Center on North Atherton Street. Pricetags on emissions-testing equipment can run around $50,000.

"I know State College is growing, but I don't know if it's growing that much, to the point where we need it," Keys said. "You're talking about sinking thousands and thousands of dollars into equipment."

In his Dec. 18 ruling, U.S. District Judge Michael M. Baylson said vehicles in 16 additional Pennsylvania counties, including Centre, Blair and Cambria, should undergo the tests.

Baylson didn't set a timetable for how soon he wants the inspections to be in place, or specify what type of emissions test he would like to see performed. He scheduled hearings in February to deal with both issues.

"If you follow the guidelines that your car manufacturer sets forth, (you will probably) pass the normal tests," said Ed Tatios, shop foreman at Mike Tillson Motorcars in Philadelphia.

The state charges $6 for the inspection, which Tatios said takes about 30 minutes. Philadelphia mechanics often put the price around $50 -- primarily to cover equipment and labor costs.

Department of Transportation officials said if Baylson's ruling stands, it would likely mean that millions of cars would be subject to emissions inspections for the first time.

"We are still reviewing the issues and weighing whether to appeal," said PennDOT spokesman Rich Kirkpatrick.

"When you look at the 25 counties involved here, they all have some sort of population center and some sort of dirty air problem," said Jeanne Clark, a spokeswoman for Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future. The group, known as PennFuture, filed the suit heard by Baylson.

Philadelphia, Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, Delaware, Allegheny, Washington, Beaver and Westmoreland counties have had emissions inspections since 1997.

Adam Smeltz can be reached at 231-4631. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

We are still reviewing the issues and weighing whether to appeal," said PennDOT spokesman Rich Kirkpatrick
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The Centre Daily Times continues it's leftist bent even without Bob Unger as editor. This is their staff editorial on the subject.

Emissions testing overdue

If the Ridge-Schweiker administration was fully committed to complying with the federal Clean Air Act, Centre County and other counties outside the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh metropolitan areas would have had auto emissions testing years ago. Now that a federal judge has said that Pennsylvania stands in violation of the Clean Air Act because it has failed to implement a broad-based emissions testing program, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation should figure out how to reverse its neglect, not how to continue it.

The Dec. 18 ruling by U.S. District Judge Michael M. Baylston follows eight years of procrastination by state officials faced with the responsibility of ensuring that the state met federal clean-air standards.

Former Gov. Tom Ridge's predecessor, Bob Casey Sr., was set to implement a statewide biennial emissions testing plan, but Ridge exploited grumbling about the program during his election campaign, and lawmakers later ditched the idea. Instead of coming forward with changes that would have satisfied some of the concerns raised by Casey's plan, PennDOT and the state Department of Environmental Protection chose foot-dragging.

In 1998, the state was considering a tougher auto emissions testing program for the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh counties that already have testing but backed off when it concluded that too many cars would fail the tougher tests.

More recently, PennDOT has been seeking to implement a program that would rely on the computer diagnostic systems that exist on cars built after 1996. Tailpipe emissions can be determined by plugging a computer into these diagnostic systems rather than the older method of capturing fumes through a car's tailpipe and measuring their composition.

The problem with relying solely on that approach, as noted by PennFuture, the organization that sued PennDOT for noncompliance with the Clean Air Act, is that roughly half of the 8.4 million vehicles registered in Pennsylvania were built before 1996. Those vehicles, lacking the pollution-control technologies now built into newer vehicles, produce the overwhelming majority of the greenhouse gases and particulates that are spewed into Pennsylvania's air. Thus, they contribute the most to problems Pennsylvanians have with asthma, emphysema and other lung diseases -- the kinds that afflict 11 percent of Centre County residents, according to the American Lung Association -- and with certain forms of cancer.

PennDOT's gamble is that, at some point, enough of these older cars will be retired that the state will eventually meet the Clean Air Act mandates without confronting the obvious political problem of reluctant motorists paying up to $50 for an emissions test and perhaps $100 or more in repairs if their car fails the test. People both inside and outside the government also wonder if the tougher inspection regime likely to come about through Baylston's ruling actually will be worth the costs. The answer is the same as what the federal Environmental Protection Agency concluded when it recently decided to tighten monitoring standards for ozone: When the costs of compliance are measured against the health costs of doing nothing, the compliance costs are a clear bargain.

It is frustrating that, after eight years of talk on this issue, PennDOT is seriously considering appealing the court ruling. The time and money spent on an appeal would be far better spent on ungrudgingly complying with the Clean Air Act and implementing an effective and reasonable emissions testing program. Centre County, which earned an "F" for its air quality from the American Lung Association in its "State of the Air 2002" report a few months ago, would breathe easier as a result.

They don't seem to realize that the actual costs to the many lower income drivers in the rural counties is much higher than the $50 inspection fee - after all they can only afford the older vehicles which will need expensive repairs to keep them on the road. As I recall, the law says you can keep driving after you fail the test if you bring in receipts showing you spent $XXXX (I don't recall the exact amount, but I think it was one thousand) on repairs.

The particulate matter that concerns the American Lung association, that the EPA monitors so closely, primarily comes from dirt (that's why they're forcing all the dirt roads to be paved or closed) and pollen (although they continue to want more trees). Emissions testing on cars will have no impact on those. It also doesn't test diesel vehicles (like tractor trailers) that actually do emit soot.

Also, as a note on the "air quality" in Centre County, the official monitoring sensor was place in the multi-story concrete Pugh Street Parking Garage in downtown State College... Parking garages of course being representative of the normal air quality...

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