Office of Transportation EPA420-F-06-028
and Air Quality March 2006
United States
Environmental Pratectior
Agency
Regulatory
Announcement
Final Rule for Amendments to
Vehicle Inspection Maintenance
Program Requirements
The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finalizing a
regulation to revise outdated timing-related references in the Inspection
and Maintenance (I/M) rule such as submission dates, start dates,
evaluation dates, and other milestones and/or deadlines to make them
relevant for areas that will be newly required to begin I/M programs
as a result of being designated and classified under the 8-hour ozone
standard.
Summary of the Final Rule
EPA is finalizing minor revisions to the Motor Vehicle I/M regulation to
update submission and implementation deadlines and other timing-related
requirements to reflect the new 8-hour National Ambient Air Quality
Standard (NAAQS) for ozone. Among other timing-related revisions, this
rule will update the start date and evaluation date(s) for each applicable
I/M performance standard.
Key Elements of the Final Rule
This final rule:
• Establishes new start and benchmark comparison dates which will
relate back to the effective date of an area's classification under the
8-hour ozone standard. The final rule also specifies which model
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year vehicles are covered by the
onboard diagnostic (OBD) test
under each applicable I/M perfor-
mance standard.
Changes the current, fixed deadline
for beginning program evaluation
testing to the more relative deadline
of "no later than 1 year after program
start up."
Establishes the submission deadline
for new I/M state implementation
plans (SIPs) required under the 8-hour
standard as 1-year after the effective
date this final rule.
Establishes the implementation dead-
line for new I/M programs required
under the 8-hour standard as 4 years
after the effective date of classification
under the 8-hour standard. This rule-
making also clarifies that the deadline
for beginning OBD testing will be
"coincident with program start up" for
areas newly required to implement
I/M as a result of being classified
under the 8-hour ozone standard.
Background
Under the Clean Air Act as amended in
1990, certain ozone nonattainment areas
are required to adopt vehicle I/M pro-
grams as one of the mandatory control
measures used to reach attainment. On
April 30, 2004, EPA published a notice of
final rulemaking (69 FR 23857) address-
ing several key requirements related to the
implementation of the 8-hour ozone stan-
dard originally promulgated on July 18,
1997 (62 FR 38856). Among other things,
the 8-hour ozone standard implementation
rule established deadlines for meeting the
8-hour ozone standard based upon a given
area's degree of nonattainment. The rule
also addressed when SIPs and attainment
demonstration plans must be submitted.
As a result of the changes finalized by the
8-hour implementation rule, EPA is issuing
this final rule to revise outdated timing-
related references in the I/M rule such as
submission dates, start dates, evaluation
dates, and other milestones and/or dead-
lines to make them relevant for areas that
will be newly required to begin I/M pro-
grams as a result of being designated and
classified under the 8-hour ozone standard.
For information
You can access this final rule and related
documents on EPA's Office of Transporta-
tion and Air Quality Web site at:
www. epa. gov/otaq/epg/regs .htm
For further information on this rulemaking,
please contact Dave Sosnowski at:
U.S. EPA
Office of Transportation & Air Quality
2000 Traverwood Drive
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
(734)214-4823
E-mail: sosnowski.dave@epa.gov
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