By Tom Joyce
Louie
Lease, owner of Louie's Auto Service and Gurreri Towing in
Springettsbury Township, remembers the 1960s, when you had to get your
car tuned up in the spring and the fall to get it through the year. He
remembers the 1970s, when car manufacturers used to produce different
cars for use in different altitudes because the different air density
could affect their performance.
These
days? Cars have more high-tech computerized sensors and gadgetry than
the most outlandish science fiction writer of those past decades could
have dreamed of.
So
if Pennsylvania does make the transition to a model of car with
stricter emission standards come 2008 — which seems likely now — Lease
doubts the changeover will send shock waves through the Commonwealth's
automotive industry.
"The evolution of the automobile is just like a construction site," Lease said. "You keep building on it."
This
week, a state body called the Environmental Quality Board took the
first steps toward putting in place a program that would have
automobile dealers sell the cars with tighter emission controls in
Pennsylvania. The Environmental Quality Board reviews proposed policy
before the state Department of Environmental Protection implements it.
According
to DEP spokeswoman Ana Gomez, the Environmental Quality Board approved
a 60-day public comment period, which will likely begin in December, on
the new emissions standards. Three public hearings on the rule change
will take place as well, at times and locations to be announced.
Jan
Jarrett, vice president of state environmental group PennFuture, said
that regardless of what comes from the comment period, the stricter
standards are likely to come about anyway. State lawmakers actually
made the decision to implement them in 1998, under then-Gov. Tom Ridge.
At
the time, Jarrett said, states were trying to decide how to comply with
a lower vehicle emission policy required under the federal Clean Air
Act. They had two choices. They could go with the federal standards. Or
they could go with tighter standards adopted in California to cope with
that state's severe smog problem. Many northeastern states, including
New Jersey and New York, opted for the California standard because they
had traffic pollution problems of their own.
Pennsylvania's
Legislature decided on the national standard, with plans to phase in
the California standard by 2006. In the intervening years, however,
that plan kind of "fell through the cracks," Jarrett said.
The
Environmental Quality Board, made up of representatives from a number
of state agencies and the state Legislature, decided to bring in the
new standard in 2008 in order to give auto dealers a chance to prepare.
The
Pennsylvania Legislature could still theoretically shoot it down,
Jarrett said. But the state has to comply with an overall air quality
standard. So if they hold off on the tighter emissions controls,
they'll have to tighten standards someplace else, such as industry.
Nathan
Willcox of the environmental advocacy group PennEnvironment said he and
his fellow environmentalists are pleased with the decision. In other
states, Willcox said, auto manufacturers have opposed the measure.
But
Ed Baker, president and CEO of Carl Beasley Ford in Springettsbury
Township, said he doubts the measure will have much effect on
Pennsylvania's automobile retailers or buyers. Even now, car buyers can
opt for vehicles that meet the California emissions standards if they
want them. "Emissions is simply a stroke of the pen when you order a
vehicle," Baker said.
THE NEW EMISSION STANDARDS
Q: When will they take effect?
A: As planned now, 2008.
Q: Will I need to make alterations to my existing vehicle?
A: No. The new standards apply only to cars, SUVs and light trucks from the model year they go into effect onward.
Q: Will the new cars be more expensive than existing ones?
A:
Possibly. According to the state Department of Environmental
Protection, the difference between the old cars and the new ones ranges
from none at all to about $30. Advocates of the program say that higher
fuel efficiency for the new vehicles will make up for any additional
cost.
Q: How much cleaner will the new vehicles be?
A:
That's difficult to work out on a vehicle-by-vehicle basis. The new
standards are calculated by averaging out the entire fleet, not by
calculating the emissions of individual vehicles. But according the
estimates by PennEnvironment, once the program is fully implemented, it
will reduce smog-forming emissions in Pennsylvania by approximately 10
percent, global warming gas emissions by 30 percent and toxic benzene
pollution — a carcinogen — by up to 15 percent.
