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No Emissions Tests for Diesel Vehicles

Posted on: Saturday, 10 December 2005, 12:00 CST

By Jared Page Deseret Morning News

PROVO -- Registering diesel cars and trucks in Utah County will be a little easier in 2006.

Utah County commissioners have repealed a provision in the county registration process that had required emissions testing of vehicles with diesel-powered engines.

The county had been participating in a state implementation plan for diesel testing -- but it was never approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said Utah County Commission Chairman Jerry Grover.

"The EPA basically said there was no scientific evidence that it reduced net pollution," Grover said.

The Utah Division of Air Quality withdrew the plan in June at the request of the EPA in order to get Utah County redesignated as an area that meets national standards for air particulates, he said.

"Without it in the state plan, the county couldn't really maintain it as a viable program legally," Grover said.

The commission's decision doesn't give diesel vehicles a license to pollute, he said. The state still requires that all sources comply with 20 percent opacity.

"So if there's a smoking vehicle, it could still be reported," Grover said. "It just means there's not a testing program on it."

The change will take effect Jan. 1, meaning diesel owners with registrations due this month still need to pass the emissions test.

Emissions testing of gasoline-powered vehicles as required by state and federal air quality plans for carbon monoxide control will continue, and safety inspections will still apply to all vehicles.

Diesel trucks and cars may appear to pollute more than those running on unleaded gasoline, but the level of carbon monoxide they discharge is actually less, said Steve Alder, manager of the Utah County Bureau of Air Quality.

"The largest issue with diesel engines is really the amount of particulate matter they produce," Alder said. "Diesel exhaust tends to contain significant levels of particulate matter and nitrogen oxides. Particulate matter can be visible, while gasoline engine emissions are typically not."

Updated state and federal air quality plans show that diesel emissions testing is no longer required, he said, because vehicles are meeting the federal ambient air quality standards.

"The elimination of the testing requirement is due in part to improved diesel engine emissions control, cleaner burning diesel fuel, reduced residential wood and coal burning on high-pollution days, and from reduced emissions from industrial sources, all of which has helped to improve the county's air quality," Alder said.

Particulate levels in Utah County have been in compliance with national ambient air quality standards for about 10 years, Grover said.

Last November, motorists and officials alike cheered a decision by government environment-protection officials to lift a 12-year order that forced Utah County gasoline distributors to sell oxygenated fuel.

The additive -- which is a 2.7 percent mix of ethanol in each gallon of gasoline -- had been mandated in the fuels sold in Utah County between Nov. 1 and the end of February after the area violated federal air quality standards for carbon monoxide in 1991.

Although Utah County has not had a carbon monoxide violation since -- and there's some debate even about the validity of the original violation -- federal and state authorities refused to lift the mandate until 2004

E-mail: jpage@desnews.com

Source: Deseret News (Salt Lake City)

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