Accord Would Toughen Auto Smog Testing
State and federal officials reached agreement Wednesday on a plan to toughen California’s automobile Smog Check program by requiring 15% of the cars in the state to be checked at specialized inspection-only facilities.
For those who own the remaining 85% of vehicles, smog inspections would remain virtually unchanged, with visits to neighborhood garages every two years for tests and repairs.
The compromise appeared to represent a substantial retreat by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which had threatened to cut off federal highway funds unless the state agreed to require that all testing be done at inspection-only facilities.
Service station owners applauded the agreement and said it would save their businesses. Several environmentalists questioned whether the compromise program would clean the air.
The state has been facing a deadline under federal clean air laws for toughening its Smog Check program. Critics contend the current system weeds out only about 25% of the dirty cars tested.
State officials, including Gov. Pete Wilson, resisted the EPA demand when operators of the state’s 9,000 licensed Smog Check stations warned of massive layoffs. Over the last few months, the state and the EPA have worked to reach a compromise. The agreement announced Wednesday would erase the threat of federal sanctions against the state for continued failure to comply with the Clean Air Act, officials said.
The agreement is subject to approval by two-thirds of the Legislature, the governor and the signing of a memorandum of understanding by state officials and by federal EPA Administrator Carol Browner.
If the program fails to fulfill expectations, it likely would be subject to renegotiation, legislative action or lawsuits.
“We have a compromise that EPA is happy with and California is happy with,” said Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), the lead legislative negotiator who has sought for more than a year to reach a settlement.
The compromise was swiftly written into legislation and unanimously approved by an Assembly-Senate conference committee Wednesday. It probably will be voted on by both houses of the Legislature next week.
Under the plan, drivers of 15% of the cars due for smog tests in 1995 would be routed into inspection-only shops for scrutiny. The vehicles would have to meet the same clean air standards as other cars, but those requiring repairs as a result of those inspections would be sent elsewhere.
Those targeted for inspection-only facilities would be autos whose smog controls had been tampered with, high-mileage fleet vehicles such as taxis, especially heavy polluters and a 2% sample of vehicles randomly selected by the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Katz said he believes there will be no increase in costs to motorists at inspection-only stations even though automobiles would be tested by more sophisticated equipment. He said that the increased cost of the equipment would be offset by the program’s proposed efficiencies.
Announcement of the settlement appeared to take environmental advocates by surprise. Veronica Kun of the Natural Resources Defense Council said she was startled that the EPA agreed to the 15% provision.
“This is certainly a step back from what EPA wanted before,” she said. “It sounds to me as if EPA has compromised much more than the legislative leaders.”
“In order for us to have the kind of program we need, there has to be some pretty strong compensations to make up for the fact that only 15% of the cars are going through the more rigorous tests,” Kun said.
However, Tom Soto of the Coalition for Clean Air said given the political reality in Sacramento, the settlement probably is the best that can be expected. “This at least breaks the gridlock. It looks as though it is something generally we can live with.”
The compromise drew the support of a service station trade association.
The agreement also calls for an experimental high-tech roadside sensor system to be tried in an effort to detect and identify California’s dirtiest cars. The EPA earlier had expressed skepticism of such a system.
In Washington, an EPA spokeswoman for Browner said, “We are very encouraged and if the Legislature passes the legislation we fully expect to sign the memorandum of understanding.”
Likewise, a spokesman for James Strock, secretary of Wilson’s California EPA who helped negotiate the settlement, praised it as a “good deal for California.”
The memorandum commits the state and federal governments to work cooperatively to bring California into compliance with federal clean air standards. Katz said the unusual written commitment was necessary to express the agreement because no legislative enactment of California is binding on the federal government.
“The resolution of this issue is extraordinary and apparently unprecedented,” Katz said. He forecast that the accord would both clean up the skies and protect the jobs of mechanics who perform inspections and make repairs.
The agreement was reached in the wake of passage in January of a major bill signed by Wilson that overhauled the ailing California Smog Check system.
Wilson and Katz had insisted that the new law would meet federal standards, but the EPA said it fell far short of doing so.
In December, the EPA announced its intent to withhold federal highway funds from California. The announcement was reversed shortly after the Northridge earthquake when President Clinton pledged to do all he could to help Southern California recover.
In signing the law over an appeal by Browner to veto it, Wilson said in January that he was willing to renew negotiations in an effort to find a compromise.
Contributing to this story was Times environmental writer Marla Cone in Los Angeles.
* A PLUG FOR ELECTRIC CARS: Electric car technology is now feasible, a state report says. A3
