Diesel vehicles will no longer need to pass emissions testing
Rashae Ophus Johnson DAILY HERALD
Local diesel vehicles will no longer be subject to emissions testing in the new year.
Advised by the Environmental Protection Agency that mandatory diesel testing is undesirable, Utah County commissioners recently repealed the tests as a prerequisite to register diesel vehicles.
EPA officials "made it very clear that they were not interested in seeing a diesel testing plan," said Commissioner Jerry Grover, who helped draft the state's new air quality plan. "They didn't feel like there was any science to support it."
The county has required emissions testing for diesel vehicles for a decade. It applied to all diesels manufactured since 1967 except the newest model years. Steve Alder, manager of the Utah County Bureau of Air Quality, said despite the EPA feedback he believes the years of testing were advantageous.
"It did make a difference. The overall smoke levels of the failing vehicles has gone down over the years because the program was in place," he said. "We would hope people have noticed the improvement in Utah Valley air quality."
The county has satisfied for several years the federal regulations for levels of particulate matter in the air, and commissioners anticipate the EPA could soon recognize Utah County as an attainment area for its air quality standards -- a designation revoked in the '80s. For years state air quality officials have struggled fruitlessly to convince the EPA to grant credit for mandatory diesel emissions testing.
Now that the EPA officially discouraged it, state and county officials conceded. It could be reinstated as a health regulation if studies sufficiently indicated diesel emissions endanger residents, but Grover said reinstatement is unlikely and, he believes, unnecessary. Gas-powered vehicles, for which mandatory emissions testing will remain effective, also contribute to air pollution but shoulder less blame than "dirty" diesels.
"If you see black smoke coming out of diesel exhaust, that's primarily unburnt fuel and in that are some particulate matter," Alder explained. "It's more visible, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's more harmful."
Though diesels won't need regular emissions tests anymore, they still are bound to state law regulating exhaust. Air quality authorities can impose a diesel emissions test on any vehicle suspected of exceeding the 20 percent opacity limit.
Mandatory diesel emissions testing concludes at the end of the year, and diesel vehicles with registration expiring in 2005 still must pass emissions tests -- even if the owners wait until next year to apply for registration renewal. The Utah County emissions testing facility will keep a lane open for diesel tests, and Alder encourages residents to voluntarily test diesel vehicles.
"It's made people aware of how their vehicles are running and to maintain them properly," Alder said. "Whether a program is in place or not, we would hope people would maintain their vehicles mechanically so we can have as clean of air in Utah Valley as possible."
