Nine States Form Emissions Test Bloc

Nine northeastern states have banded together to get tough on trucks that pollute the air.

Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont agreed to begin roadside smoke testing and ticketing trucks and buses that are in violation by July 1, 2001.

Under the pact, announced earlier this month, the states will coordinate testing around common standards, create a database of results and ensure that a trucker whose rig fails an emissions inspection in one jurisdiction can complete his trip without being cited elsewhere for the same infraction.

Until now, testing commercial vehicles for excessive exhaust smoke varied from state to state. This is the first agreement in the nation to establish testing on a regional basis.

“Because of the interstate nature of both our air quality problems and the trucking industry, only a coordinated and cooperative regional strategy will achieve the public health protections New Jersey aimed for when we initiated our roadside diesel inspection program last year,” Robert Shinn, commissioner of New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection, said in a statement.

For the full story, see the June 28 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.