Vehicle Emissions

ANNAPOLIS -- In what one member described as "the major environmental vote" of the 1991 session, the House of Delegates approved legislation yesterday that backers say would reduce polluting vehicle emissions in Maryland at twice the rate required by federal law.By a 75-59 vote, the House sent to the Senate legislation that would set the level of vehicle emissions in Maryland using the same stiff standards set by the state of California. The California alternative is an option specifically offered states as a way of to meet overall clean-air standards adopted by Congress in the Clean Air Act of 1990.

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.

Audits of Maryland's Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program have uncovered monetary irregularities and recordkeeping so sloppy that state officials could not adequately track the millions of dollars collected in inspection fees.In reports from October to July, state auditors also found inadequate staffing and many instances in which it took weeks to repair malfunctioning inspection equipment.The audits, released recently by the state in response to a request from The Sun, provide the first hard evidence of the scope of the problems that have affected the program.

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.

Maryland's controversial new vehicle emissions program got off to a false start yesterday, as computer and staffing problems delayed the beginning of full-scale testing.A state legislative committee, meanwhile, dealt the air pollution control program a financial setback when it blocked the Motor Vehicle Administration from doubling the vehicle inspection fee to $17.The new, tougher tests are being adopted to fight smog, which affects the health of hundreds of thousands in the Baltimore and Washington areas.

ANNAPOLIS -- A Carroll delegate's bill to make all Maryland residents share the cost of clean air was opposed by the Motor Vehicle Administration yesterday.Del. Donald B. Elliott, a Republican who represents Carroll and Howard counties, is sponsoring a bill to require all residents, not just those in counties where vehicle emissions tests are required, to pay an emissions control fee.Currently, emissions tests are required in the state's eight metropolitan counties -- including Carroll. In 1995, six more counties will be included.

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.

The company that may take over Maryland's troubled Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program next year has drawn favorable reviews from other states, with two notable exceptions.Most of the 10 states where Envirotest Systems Corp. runs testing programs said the company has performed adequately or better. But Colorado and Ohio, which offer advanced tests similar to Maryland's, have assessed thousands of dollars against the company for performance problems.Envirotest's problems in the two states were similar to some of those experienced by the company it is seeking to buy, MARTA Technologies Inc., which currently operates Maryland's Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program.

A legislative committee is calling on the state Transportation Department to postpone the awarding of a lucrative contract for the vehicle emissions inspection program.Sen. Laurence Levitan, D-Montgomery, chairman of the powerful Senate Budget and Taxation Committee, said his committee will issue a letter Thursday formally asking for the contract to be delayed.He said members were motivated, in part, by a Government Accounting Office report that criticized the accuracy of the proposed emissions test.

State legislative leaders yesterday called a public hearing on reported problems with Maryland's Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program and on the planned sale of the company that runs the program.Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. and House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr. said they are concerned about problems uncovered by state auditors and reported yesterday in The Sun. The audits, released at the newspaper's request and never distributed to legislators, found monetary irregularities, poor recordkeeping, inadequate staffing and malfunctioning inspection equipment.

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.

A citizen group sued the Environmental Protection Agency yesterday, saying it violated the Clean Air Act in February by approving an air-quality plan for Greater Baltimore based on "fudged" data. The case, filed in 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., could set a precedent nationally over how the agency measures vehicle emissions. Emissions levels are significant to transportation planners because new road projects will not qualify for federal money if pollution is too high.

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.

After surviving its own treadmill of political debate and performance problems for nearly three years, a stricter vehicle emissions test is about to become mandatory in Maryland.Drivers, here's fair warning: Beginning Wednesday, the first 25,000 notices will start showing up in the mail summoning cars and light trucks to one of 19 state-owned centers for required dynamometer testing.Unlike the traditional tailpipe test, which has been standard in Maryland since 1984, cars will be driven on a treadmill by an attendant.

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.

The long lines of fuming motorists may be gone, but questions remain about how Maryland's controversial vehicle emissions inspections program will fare when the unpopular treadmill-like dynamometer test becomes mandatory in the fall.Bucking polls that show roughly half of Marylanders object to putting their vehicles on the dynamometer, Gov. Parris N. Glendening last week vetoed legislation that would have kept the test voluntary.Glendening's action pleased environmentalists and health advocates, who contend that vehicle emissions checks every other year are a small price to pay to help reduce air pollution and restore the Chesapeake Bay.But angry critics of the tests -- flooding conservative radio talk shows -- complain about having to surrender their keys to a technician and watch their cars and trucks be "driven" on rollers at up to 55 mph.State officials, mindful of the public outcry and the start-up problems that derailed mandatory dynamometer testing two years ago, said last week they are working to ensure the inspections go smoothly and are as "customer-friendly" as possible.

Teamwork is a concept that the District 31 General Assembly delegation doesn't seem to talk about much.With the beginning of the 1995 legislative session less than a week away, the members say they have a number of ideas they hope to work on individually but little they want to do together.They don't even agree on what to do about the one issue that concerns all of them: a more stringent auto emissions testing program that was to begin Jan. 1.Democratic Sen. Phillip C. Jimeno, who believes the program costs motorists too much money and time said he will submit legislation that would stop the new program to allow the General Assembly to study it further and possibly revise it. Meanwhile, he said, the state would continue use the simpler, cheaper system.

The state plans to deny another $108,000 to the company that runs its Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program because of financial discrepancies and long wait times at testing stations, officials said yesterday.Maryland already has slashed the fees it pays the company by $122,000 because of operational problems in May and June.At a briefing in Annapolis yesterday, state transportation and environment officials discussed their struggle to get the company, MARTA Technologies Inc. of Nashville, Tenn.

Dru Schmidt-Perkins, regional director of Clean Water Action, was misquoted in an article yesterday about Maryland's vehicle emissions inspection program. She said the governor was able to rise above the rhetoric of a "vocal minority."The Sun regrets the errors.Risking political retribution from angry Maryland motorists, Gov. Parris N. Glendening announced yesterday that he will allow the state's treadmill-style vehicle emissions test to become mandatory later this year.Ending weeks of discussion, Glendening vetoed a bill passed by the General Assembly that would have kept the controversial tests voluntary.

The company that may take over Maryland's troubled Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program next year has drawn favorable reviews from other states, with two notable exceptions.Most of the 10 states where Envirotest Systems Corp. runs testing programs said the company has performed adequately or better. But Colorado and Ohio, which offer advanced tests similar to Maryland's, have assessed thousands of dollars against the company for performance problems.Envirotest's problems in the two states were similar to some of those experienced by the company it is seeking to buy, MARTA Technologies Inc., which currently operates Maryland's Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program.