United States Air and Radiation EPA420-F-00-005 Environmental Protection February 2000 Agency Office of Transportation and Air Quality Regulatory Announcement Final Rule on Flexibility Amendments to Inspection/Maintenance Program Requirements The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is issuing a Final Rulemaking that will amend the motor vehicle Inspection and Maintenance (I/M) requirements to allow states greater flexibility in deciding how to apportion the emission reductions they need from I/M versus other measures, taking into account local needs and conditions. Background The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments (CAA) required certain nonattainment areas across the country to implement either basic or enhanced vehicle I/M programs, depending upon the severity of the area's air quality problem. The CAA also required that Metropolitan Statistical Areas with 1990 populations over 100,000 within an Ozone Transport Region (OTR) implement enhanced I/M regardless of their air quality designation. EPA, in turn, was required to develop minimum performance and administrative requirements to be met by areas required to implement I/M, whether basic or enhanced. On November 5, 1992, EPA issued its original rule establishing mini- mum performance and administrative requirements for states developing air quality implementation plans for I/M. For enhanced I/M areas, this rule included a performance standard that assumed IM240 tailpipe emission testing as well as evaporative system purge and pressure test- ing. This performance standard was amended in 1995 and 1996 such that > Printed on Recycled Paper ------- the current I/M rule requires enhanced I/M programs to produce the same or better emission reductions as would be achieved by one of three possible enhanced I/M performance standards: high enhanced, low enhanced, and OTR low enhanced. As a result of the original presumption of IM240 testing, some of the I/M rule's remaining test procedure and related requirements are too prescriptive and might possibly exclude valid, alternative test methodologies. EPA is therefore taking action to revise these requirements to ensure that innovative approaches will not conflict with dated requirements. The 1992 I/M rule also included a require- ment that enhanced I/M programs provide motorists that fail the inspection with computer-generated information based on particular portions of the test. This require- ment was again based upon the presump- tion that all enhanced I/M programs would include IM240 tailpipe testing. In 1995, however, EPA was barred from requiring IM240 in enhanced I/M. programs under one of the provisions of the newly enacted National Highway System Designation Act. In the IM240's place, a wide-range of alternative I/M tests have been approved for use in enhanced I/M programs. These tests do not produce the detailed diagnostic information originally envisioned in 1992, and we are therefore taking action to change this requirement to better accom- modate these alternative testing strategies. EPA believes that revisions are needed to bring the I/M rule up to date by: (1) incor- porating changes in policy; (2) revising provisions to make them consistent with the National Highway Systems Designa- tion Act of 1995; and (3) providing states additional flexibility to tailor their I/M programs now to better meet current and future needs. Among these future needs are the need to maximize program efficiency and customer convenience by capitalizing on newer vehicle testing options, and the need to accommodate an in-use fleet which is in the process of turning over to newer, cleaner, and more durable vehicle tech- nologies. It is necessary to remove certain restrictions in the current rule that would impede that transition. Final Key elements of this rulemaking include: « Amending performance standard requirements to provide enhanced I/M areas greater flexibility in how they meet the performance standard and to lower the overall modeling burden. • Revising certain test procedure, standard and equipment requirements to better accommodate alternative test types and design, including the use of evaporative testing in lieu of tailpipe testing. • Revising the requirements for con- sumer protection and improving repair effectiveness to limit the cur- rent diagnostic information require- ments to those programs and test types capable of producing such information, reliably and practically. • Expanding the options for complying with the on-road testing requirement to accommodate more recent varia- ------- tions, such as clean screening and non-tailpipe based roadside tests by removing current language that suggests that the on-road test must be a tailpipe test and include out-of-cycle repairs. Removing the current provision establishing the decentralized, test- and-repair discount, in response to the National Highway System Designa- tion Act of 1995. In addition, we are extending the definition of decentral- ized test-only to allow testing stations that engage in a full range of sales not directly related to automotive sales or services to still be considered test- only. For Additional documents on I/M programs are available electronically on the Office of Transportation and Air Quality web site at: http ://www. epa.gov/otaq/im.htm For further information on this final rule- making, please contact David Sosnowski at: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Transportation and Air Quality 2000 Traverwood Drive Ann Arbor, MI 48105 734-214-4823 for The flexibility that this rule provides will apply to any state required to implement II M if the state chooses to utilize the options for additional flexibilities. Modifications to a state's I/M program as a result of this rulemaking may require a SIP revision, if a state's plan has already been submitted and approved. ------- |