Thursday, June 17, 1999
Lucas backs delay on car emissions test
3 N.Ky. counties may seek moratorium
BY KRISTINA GOETZ
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Northern Kentucky's three counties may unite to seek a moratorium on auto emissions testing set to begin Sept. 1. If they do, they will find a willing ally in Congressman Ken Lucas.
“I am disappointed ... that bureaucrats still plan to require burdensome tailpipe testing for Kentucky citizens,” he said. “I will fight for a moratorium on tailpipe testing in the tri-county region,” said Mr. Lucas, a Democrat from Richwood.
The tests have been standard in Southwest Ohio for some time.
Boone County Fiscal Court members caught the attention of Mr. Lucas and officials in neighboring Kenton and Campbell counties when they voted unanimously Tuesday night to seek a moratorium on emissions testing until a study is completed by the National Academy of Science, which is aimed at determining the effectiveness of the tests. The study is scheduled to be completed in February 2000.
They even got the ear of U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning, a Republican from Southgate, although he believes a moratorium is unlikely under the current administration.
“He would certainly be willing to talk with them (county officials),” Bunning spokesman John Mechem said.
The senator agrees with many of Boone County commissioners' concerns.
“Sen. Bunning believes emissions testing is ineffective and wasteful. Northern Kentucky is in noncompliance because they are lumped in with Cincinnati and they are also hurt by out-of-state traffic.”
Officials in Kenton and Campbell counties said Wednesday they would consider joining Boone County in the fight against emissions testing.
“If there's anything we can do to either put it off indefinitely or kill it outright, I'm definitely willing to look into it,” said Kenton County Commissioner Dan Humpert.
“We have a meeting next Tuesday and I urge the judge to put it on the agenda.”
Kenton County Commissioner Barbara Black said she wanted to see evidence of how other states have fared with the program and if the high cost is justified. The program that starts this fall in Northern Kentucky will cost $20 per car.
But officials are also concerned about consequences. Traditionally, if counties do not comply with federal Clean Air mandates, federal funds are withheld.
“Typically, most major highway projects receive 80 percent of their money from the feds,” said Andy Reser, an air quality transportation manager for the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments (OKI). “It means that every major transportation project in the region would have to stop.
“The timeline for that might be far off, but it could lead up to that point.”
Campbell County Commissioner Dave Otto said he was on the Northern Kentucky Emissions Control Board several years ago when Northern Kentucky counties used an older test for emissions.
“We did have testing and it didn't work,” he said. “There was no significant change in the air quality, because of all the transient traffic.”
But John Hornback, air quality director for the state's department for environmental protection, said there are reasons why those tests didn't work. There were various entities that monitored emissions with little or no oversight.
“Now the state oversees the company,” Mr. Hornback said.
There's also enforcement now. The program is mandated by the federal Clean Air Act, which requires tests to be taken once every two years before motorists can renew their vehicle registration.
The National Academy of Science plans to take studies from around the country, compare them and then characterize how the tests work nationally.
“Waiting doesn't make sense,” said Lee Cook, who works in the office of mobile sources for the U.S. EPA.
“If you stop the testing, all you're going to do is lose the ability to improve air quality.”
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