Who Gains, Who Loses in Smog Plan : Environment: Tougher testing standards proposed by the EPA could mean higher fees for motorists. They also could drive some testing shops out of the business.

The Bush Administration’s proposal to enact tough new smog tests for cars would likely mean higher costs for consumers and smog-testing shops alike but benefit a few companies that make treadmill-like diagnostic equipment.

The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday proposed the new vehicle emission testing standards and said it wants to reduce smog in U.S. cities by 28%. The standards would require tougher inspections and new high-tech diagnostic equipment.

For smog-inspection shops and service stations, the new proposals would require the purchase of expensive new dynamometers costing up to $150,000.

“I think it’ll work, but it’ll hurt a lot of small businesses,” said Jorge Estrada, a mechanic at John’s Auto & Transmission Shop in Los Angeles. Estrada said his shop recently invested $40,000 in new emission-testing equipment, and the old equipment, which the shop was unable to sell, fills a back storage room.

“Every time a small business gets caught up, they change the procedures,” he lamented.

Estrada and other small businesses investing in new equipment and training new technicians may be eligible for a $6-billion federal assistance program, according to the Department of Transportation.

The EPA proposal would, however, mean higher repair bills for owners of cars and light trucks whose vehicles fail the emissions test. The new rules would raise the cap on owner expenditures to $450. In California, the repair ceiling now ranges from $50 to $300, depending on the car’s age.

While the California Air Resources Board is free to develop its own proposal by Nov. 15 for meeting the EPA’s smog-reduction guidelines, many of the agency’s recommendations are likely to be adopted in California, board spokesman Bill Sessa said.

Sessa said California’s stringent emissions standards have already reduced vehicle emissions by 16%, meaning “we don’t have as far to go as other states.”

Fernando Hernandez, owner of Smog Pros shop on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles, said his business invested $50,000 in testing equipment in 1991. He would buy the new high-tech equipment if required, but “we’d have to do a lot of inspections to get the money back.”

Sessa said current testing methods--placing a probe into the tailpipe of a vehicle that is idling--are insufficient. The EPA has proposed that vehicles be placed for four minutes on a dynamometer, a treadmill machine that simulates road resistance, and tested at different speeds.

The Air Resources Board is considering what type of dynamometers to adopt at inspection stations. The dynamometers cost from $20,000 to $150,000.

One company that could benefit is Allen Test Products, a Michigan company that manufactures dynamometers.

“If it’s something that every smog shop is going to have to have, then we will be supplying them,” said Bryan Crosby, the company’s district sales manager in Los Angeles. Crosby also conceded that the number of smog inspection stations, now 8,200 in California, would drop as some mechanics eliminated that part of their business due to the cost of the equipment.

“I don’t think the public’s going to be real thrilled,” said Judy Roberson, the legislative coordinator for the Southern California Service Station Assn.

While some smog-shop operators said they would buy the new equipment if necessary, they said those costs would be passed on to customers.

“I’ll buy a dynamometer because it will pay off,” said Bale Littlejohn, owner of Smog Masters on South Flower Street in Los Angeles. “But prices are going to be raised--they have to be. And you’re going to end up paying.”