By Dan Klepal
Enquirer staff writer

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is looking at the possibility of discontinuing the biannual E-check tailpipe test after the state's current contract expires at the end of 2005. State officials also are considering an exemption for more vehicles, if the program survives.

Heidi Griesmer, an OEPA spokeswoman, said the state's top environmental watchdog may exempt cars that are 5 years old and newer.

"There's not a guarantee that we'll continue the program," Griesmer said. "Nothing has been ruled out, and we certainly haven't ruled out exempting more vehicles. If E-check continues, it could be a very different program than what is currently being done."

Now, only one-owner vehicles that are 2 years old or newer are exempt from the $19.50 test. The state gets 56 cents from each of the 1.8 million tests performed annually in Ohio.

E-check is required in 14 counties - including Hamilton, Butler, Warren and Clermont - all of which are out of compliance with federal rules that limit the amount of ozone in the air.

Pollution coming from vehicle tailpipes, when combined with heat and sunlight on stagnant days, contributes to the creation of ozone.

OEPA officials have three years to come up with a plan to get Southwest Ohio counties in compliance with those rules. Evaluating the E-check program is part of that process, but a decision will have to be made in about a year, Griesmer said.

"We'll need to get approval from the General Assembly to continue the program, or make any changes," she said. "We're looking at all the possibilities."

One of those possibilities is to eliminate the tailpipe test, and simply go to a computer-based "diagnostic" test that would hook into vehicle dashboards.

Griesmer said there hasn't been any talk about exempting vehicles older than 5 years.

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E-mail dklepal@enquirer.com