Ending emissions tests gets initial approval (in Missouri House)

[Ediacara]

Ending emissions tests gets initial approval

By Ben Hallman
Post-Dispatch Jefferson City Bureau
05/03/2004

JEFFERSON CITY - A bill that would end the clean-air emissions testing program in the St. Louis area won first-round approval in the Missouri House on Monday.

The vote was 76-69, with support coming from both parties.

Bill sponsor Rep. Jim Lembke, R-south St. Louis County, said the testing is unnecessary, unpopular and a burden to the elderly and poor. He said the program should be eliminated because 92 percent of all vehicles pass the test and the biggest polluters - motorcycles and many trucks - are exempt from the law.

More at the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch

[phantom power]

1. Two things

1) If they quit testing, then the 8% of cars who fail will now not get fixed. And so each year, more and more cars will have emissions problems.

2) What if we did something crazy, like *require* motorcycles and trucks to pass emissions tests?

[damnraddem]

9. But by ending the testing requirement, they can assure that:

1) the 8% of cars that don't pass will blossom into a much-higher percentage, so that
2) motorcycles and trucks will no longer be the major offenders.

[bif]

2. And they're about to reintroduce them here in Michigan

n/t

[Tellurian]

3. The World in reverse...

These people are absolute lunatics.

The only ones that benefit are the corporations. So, in their view, clean air is an not an option offered to the consumer. Pollution GOOD-- as long as corporate giants make a few dollars and pass their savings along in corporate donations to the Bush campaign.

yetch..




The upside: More campaign fodder for the Kerry Campaign-

[Red State Rebel]

7. Actually the business are against this....

They are concerned that any increase in pollution from the autos will raise the overall pollution in the area bringing tougher sanctions down on them.

Automotive business aren't happy because they will lose the required repair work.

I personally don't like the emissions testing because it isn't required anywhere but in St. Louis and the surrounding counties. Drive over the county line and you don't have to have it.

[LynzM]

4. That sucks...

Indiana doesn't even have emissions testing. I was flabbergasted to learn that, having grown up in Connecticut. I'm betting 1/3 of the cars out here wouldn't pass, though... :(

[Terran]

8. The law applies only to St. Louis, I think

Not the rest of the state. Not sure if KC has/had a similar law, but the rest of the state is exempt, anyway.

The reasons being given are BS. People have to get annual or semi-annual safety inspections, so the emissions test are no big deal. Our Legislature is controlled by wack-job repugs now and they just don't want any environmental laws on the books.

[hatrack]

5. Yeah, that'll clean up smog in St. Louis in no time!

Are these people out of their fucking minds?

Oh, and did I mention the cost of breaking the $40 million contract the state has with the company that does the testing?

[ConcernedCanuk]

6. That's absolutely insane reasoning, saying only 8% fail justifies

.
.
.

No testing.

OK -

Only 5% of drivers speed, so lets stop enforcing the speed limit?

(yes - I picked the 5% out of my head, buy you understand my point)

Drivers will no longer maintain their emission controls, as many cars run quite well with defective devices.

The testing is not an expensive item, and if indeedy their concern is for the needy and elderly(*ahem* - elderly? - they ALL aren't poor -) then give those groups discounts, exemptions, or state-sponsored rebates.

And if indeed motorcycles and trucks are the larger polluters

- EXTEND the law to cover them.

I think this has a larger agenda.

Have to figure out who benefits from this law - car makers maybe?

Making the way for imports with lower emission standards?

Gotta be something like that,

I just don't buy the "hardship for the poor and elderly" line - -

"Sympathy" and "empathy" aren't words that pop into my head when I think of most governments.

[classics]

10. If St Louis is anything like Ohio

New cars of the wealthy and all trucks are exempt from testing anyway.

The great majority of the burden of testing costs and 'repairs' falls on those who can afford it the least and produce the least amount of air pollution.

[snooper2]

11. That's crazy..

I'm in Dallas and we even have to have our gas caps tested. The guy in the shop said some of the worst pollution comes from faulty gas caps.