EPA Backs Uniform Smoke Tests
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Panel delays action on American Trucking Associations recently held off throwing its full support behind that same idea due to opposition from truckers in Illinois. That group of businesses has been fighting a measure to establish smoke testing in the state, which was recently approved by the House.
“Because many (heavy-duty trucks) move across state boundaries, EPA believes that uniformity among state-operated smoke testing programs is desirable and appropriate,” Margo T. Oge, the director of EPA’s Office of Mobile Sources, wrote to state environmental officials.
EPA recommended using opacity cutpoints — the standards a truck’s emissions must meet in order to pass — of 40% for vehicles made after 1991 and 55% for older vehicles.
Opacity measures the darkness of the exhaust emitted by a truck and the amount of light that can pass through that smoke. An opacity of 50% means half of the light can pass through.
The cutpoints were developed by the Society of Engineers, which created the smoke testing procedure most states use. The organization did a study of the standards now in use by states and what cutpoints stakeholders thought were appropriate.
It found most states used the 40% and 55% cutpoints, and those that did not were at a high altitude, which affects the tests.
Ten states currently have some form of smoke testing for trucks and seven more have plans to establish a procedure soon.
The Environmental Policy Committee of ATA has flirted with the idea of endorsing a national smoke testing standard. However, when the issue came up at the Winter Leadership Meeting of the association in February, the committee decided to wait to endorse a policy until the idea could be considered further (2-22, p. 2).
For the full story, see the March 29 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.
