Emissions Testing

WASHINGTON -- New data from a California study show that attempting to reduce smog by measuring auto emissions from the roadside is a "miserable failure," an air pollution consultant said yesterday.The reliability of this "remote sensing" method is a crucial issue in Congress and in Maryland, as critics of centralized motor vehicle inspection programs such as Maryland's have touted roadside emissions monitors as an effective and less intrusive way of reducing air pollution.A two-month experiment in the Sacramento area with remote sensors was designed to test 750,000 vehicles.

Howard County officials say they will likely spend up to $50,000 on emissions testing for a new generator that will produce energy from methane gas given off by Alpha Ridge Landfill, after neighbors raised concerns over how the project might affect air quality. The decision last week came after an informational meeting held in Marriottsville by the department of public works, which is overseeing the proposed combustion engine. "If they can't prove to me it's safe, then don't tell me it's safe," said one resident, Geff Ottman, during Monday's meeting at Marriotts Ridge High School.

Fueled by several months of calls and letters from irate motorists, the House of Delegates gave final approval yesterday to legislation that will delay a tougher form of vehicle emissions testing in Maryland until June 1 of next year.The measure, which is expected to be signed into law by the governor next month, will temporarily spare motorists from two controversial pollution-monitoring tests.One is a requirement that cars be driven by a station attendant on a treadmill-like device called a dynamometer.

I agree with Al Nalley about the emissions test being a money grab ("Paying out-of-state company for emissions testing is too costly," Catonsville Times, Nov. 30). I just traded in my 1999 Ford 150 and it never had a problem passing this useless test. I have never had a vehicle fail and I keep them for 10 years or more. This is my fourth Ford truck since 1978 and none of them ever had a problem. At least we shouldn't need to get them tested for 5-6 years, because the first tune-up isn't due until 100,000 miles.

A key legislative committee last night approved a 15-month delay in starting tougher vehicle emissions testing in Maryland, but not before opponents to the controversial smog-control program mounted a strong push to repeal the law altogether.By a 14-6 vote, the House Environmental Matters Committee approved the delay, which had the backing of Gov. Parris N. Glendening and legislative leaders.The vote in Annapolis came just after the panel narrowly defeated a competing bill that supporters argued would "send a message" to the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington about the unpopular testing program.

The governor has told Carroll and Westminster officials they can look for another site for an auto emissions testing station, but he can't guarantee the site will be chosen.A move would mean delays and cost increases for the state, Gov. William Donald Schaefer wrote in a Dec. 10 letter, copies of which were sent to the county commissioners and Westminster Mayor W. Benjamin Brown.A Tennessee company hired by the state Department of Transportation has signed a contract to buy about 2 acres at the Air Business Park on Route 97 in Westminster for an emissions testing station.

Local officials have asked Gov. William Donald Schaefer to intervene and stop a contractor hired by the state from building an emissions testing station at the Carroll County Air Business Park.The industrial park, on Route 97 north of Westminster, is not the proper place for a testing station that would attract about 200 more cars to the area each day, the officials wrote in a recent letter to Mr. Schaefer.Marta Technologies Inc., a Tennessee-based company, has signed a contract to buy about two acres at the business park from Operating Engineers Local No. 37 in Baltimore, which owns 44 acres there, Michael L. Schuett, a consultant who represents the union, said yesterday.

The price of clean air will hit most Maryland motorists where they drive under a new auto emissions testing program announced yesterday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.To curb urban smog, the state's every-other-year emissions checks of cars and trucks will have to be beefed up, made more costly and expanded to cover drivers living in six rural counties beyond the Baltimore and Washington areas, state officials said.The new "high-tech" emissions tests, using a sophisticated treadmill-like device, will cost more -- up to twice the current $8.50 fee. They also will take longer -- as much as 10 minutes.

The firm hired by the state to administer a five-year $96.9 million contract for high-tech vehicle emissions tests is being sold amid charges of mismanagement and shoddy maintenance testing centers in Maryland and Ohio.MARTA Technologies Inc., a Nashville, Tenn., subsidiary of the Allen Group, a communications company, agreed this week to sell the company to Envirotest Systems Corp. and transfer contracts in three states.Maryland officials said yesterday they were uncertain how the sale would affect operation of the state's Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program, often characterized by long lines and broken equipment.

An article in yesterday's editions of The Sun and The Evening Sun incorrectly named the company that runs Maryland's emissions testing stations. The firm that has run the program since its inception in 1984 was purchased in April and renamed Envirotest Technologies Inc.The Sun regrets the errors.ANNAPOLIS -- Complying with new federal clean-air standards has become such an expensive and lasting problem that Maryland officials said yesterday they are considering buying into the emissions-testing business.

The start of the state legislative session is only two months away. Yet there is talk of ways to increase revenue, which is Democratic-speak for tax increases. Tolls have already been raised this year, with more increases in the next two years. Car and business registration fees are going to double. These increases come with no legislative oversight. The governor wants them so he directs his cabinet heads to raise the fees — oops — taxes. The 15-cent increase in the state's gas tax moves it from 23.5 cents to 38.5 cents for a fund the state can't spend fast enough.

ONE OF THE JOYS of living in the Free State is receiving your Vehicle Emissions Inspection Notice in the mail and then setting out on the mind-numbing journey to the testing center. It seems like a fairly cut-and-dried process, right? Either you fail, because your car is spewing great clouds of toxic pollutants into the air, or you pass. Well, sort of. As it happens, there is a third category you can land in, a sort of vehicle-emissions purgatory, which I discovered when I had my car tested last week.

The state's vehicle emissions program is changing the way it tests newer cars, but the effect should be minimal on motorists when they visit a testing station. Beginning today, Maryland's Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program will use a computerized scan test for cars and light trucks of model year 1996 and later. The "on-board diagnostics" test will replace mandatory dynamometer testing for those vehicles. The test enables technicians at testing stations to link monitors with a vehicle's in-dash engine computer.

Comptroller William Donald Schaefer and Treasurer Richard N. Dixon ambushed a Glendening administration plan to give the operator of the state's Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program a $122 million contract extension yesterday, charging that officials showed favoritism in passing over a lower bidder. With Gov. Parris N. Glendening out of state, the two other members of the Board of Public Works made a big show of refusing to support the five-year contract award to Environmental Systems Products Inc. of East Granby, Conn.

The House of Delegates handed environmentalists a long-sought victory as it approved legislation yesterday requiring vehicle emissions testing for large trucks and buses that burn diesel fuel.The legislation has passed the Senate in nearly identical form, meaning final passage is virtually assured.The bill, sponsored by Baltimore County Democrat Del. Dan K. Morhaim, passed the House 122-10 with no debate.It would subject Maryland's 70,000 diesel trucks and buses weighing more than 10,000 pounds, along with the same class of out-of-state vehicles, to random testing for the amount of soot or black smoke that spews out of their exhaust pipes.

From Hagerstown to Grasonville, motorists who ventured into vehicle emissions testing centers yesterday discovered their universe had changed.The good news: No waiting, at least not on the first day of mandatory dynamometer testing. The bad news: Check out those last three words.For the first time, car owners in Baltimore and 13 counties had no choice but to confront the hotly debated treadmill test so touted by environmentalists and dreaded by talk show hosts and car enthusiasts.They watched in glass-enclosed waiting rooms as cheerful strangers took their keys and drove their cars on rollers at speeds equivalent to 55 mph.For some it was an annoyance.

A new contractor will not be taking over Maryland's troubled emissions testing program, disappointing some state legislators who hoped the transfer would lead to better service for motorists.For months, Envirotest Systems Corp. had been negotiating a plan to take over the inspection program from MARTA Technologies Inc., a smaller firm with a spotty record in Maryland. However, the rival companies could not reach a financial settlement and dropped the idea, the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration announced yesterday.

Howard County officials say they will likely spend up to $50,000 on emissions testing for a new generator that will produce energy from methane gas given off by Alpha Ridge Landfill, after neighbors raised concerns over how the project might affect air quality. The decision last week came after an informational meeting held in Marriottsville by the department of public works, which is overseeing the proposed combustion engine. "If they can't prove to me it's safe, then don't tell me it's safe," said one resident, Geff Ottman, during Monday's meeting at Marriotts Ridge High School.

STARTING TOMORROW, most vehicle owners in the state must put their automobiles through a controversial treadmill test (the dynamometer) as part of the required two-year emissions inspection program. Previously, the treadmill test had been voluntary. Yet judging from the half-million motorists who have already experienced the dynamometer, it's no big deal.The chief beneficiaries of this change will be all who breathe in the state. The very young, the elderly and the 600,000 Marylanders with respiratory problems are most vulnerable to auto-caused smog.

Two months after the controversial treadmill-style emissions test became mandatory, state officials yesterday tuned up the testing process, promising motorists a smoother ride -- and continuing the $150 limit on emission-related repairs.Among the Motor Vehicle Administration's changes, slated to be in place after Oct. 1, are a lift bar to allow cars a nearly bump-free entrance to the treadmill, a television monitor illustrating the test and a personal "greeter" to explain the exam.Also, those age 70 and over who drive no more than 5,000 miles a year will be exempt from the $12 emissions test -- treadmill or tailpipe -- that must be performed on 2.1 million vehicles every two years.