Centralized Smog Testing Sites Opposed

A Ventura County taxpayers group delivered a petition to county officials Tuesday signed by 562 residents opposed to the establishment of large, centralized smog inspection stations.

The petitions were presented to the board of the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District, which is seeking state legislation to allow the county to set up its own centralized smog testing program.

“We are convinced that the centralized smog testing system will not be any more efficient or effective than the present system,” said Jere Robings, president of the taxpayers group.

The centralized system would only hurt the area’s 235 local smog inspection and repair stations and inconvenience motorists, Robings told the air pollution control board. Several shop owners also voiced similar concerns.

But Richard Baldwin, the county’s air pollution control officer, said the centralized stations would reduce the cost of smog testing to consumers, while giving the county a chance to further cut emissions and meet its air quality goals.

Baldwin said the new stations would improve air quality by reducing the number of faulty or fraudulent vehicle inspections because repairs would be done elsewhere.

Although current smog stations would lose the inspection part of their business, he said they would likely benefit from increased repair business, because a county-run inspection station--which would specialize in such vehicle monitoring--would be expected to catch more polluting automobiles.

If approved by the Legislature, the county’s centralized testing program would be the only one of its kind in California.