Sunday, December 05, 1999
Tailpipe testing may hit a bump
Fischer: Put end to N.Ky. program
BY TERRY FLYNN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FORT THOMAS — State Rep. Joe Fischer, R-Fort Thomas, hopes the General Assembly will enact his proposed legislation to permit Northern Kentucky counties to end tailpipe emission testing.
But don't look for officials in Campbell, Kenton or Boone counties to make any quick moves toward elimination of the testing, even if Mr. Fischer's proposal becomes law next spring.
Under threat of sanctions from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that could halt the flow of federal money for highways and major development, the counties delegated authority for setting up emission testing stations to the state's Division of Air Quality.
Emissions testing began at facilities in the three counties in September.
“To remove the legal question of whether to continue the testing, I'm proposing legislation to allow counties now under threat of EPA sanctions to opt out of any state program currently being proposed,” Mr. Fischer said.
“This would remove the need to take this issue into the courts, leaving the decision up to each county.”
Campbell County Commissioner Bill Verst said he was not happy about the federally imposed tailpipe testing. “It's been proven that the tests have little or no effect on actually cleaning the air,” he said.
“But I don't believe we're the proper agency to do this. The EPA can decide to play hardball if we stop the testing, and I don't want our citizens to suffer because federal funds are withheld.”
Mr. Fischer said he can't understand why the federal EPA doesn't declare that Northern Kentucky is in compliance with clean air standards because “we are in the fourth straight year of meeting or exceeding the (clean air) standards for compliance.
“The tailpipe testing should be halted.”
He said he anticipates that the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., will complete a study on the effect of tailpipe testing while the General Assembly is still in session. The study surveys the quality of air in cities that have the program compared with others that don't, Mr. Fischer said.
“We think the study will show that the testing has no positive effect on cleaning the air,” he said.
Mr. Fischer also said that according to his research, there is the possibility that imposing regulations in certain areas rather than statewide might be unconstitutional.
“The fiscal courts delegated authority for establishing tailpipe test ing to the state in 1990 for a program begun in 1991 and later dropped,” he said.
“But if it is shown that they (fiscal courts) didn't delegate the authority for the new program, it would be a new law and in violation of the state constitution.”
He said Florida recently recommended that four counties around Jacksonville, Fla., and Miami end tailpipe testing because the counties are in compliance.
Similarly, the auto emissions testing program in Minneapolis-St. Paul was shut down Nov. 10 after 16 years because the EPA said the Twin Cities were also in compliance with clean air standards.
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