Vehicle emissions testing likely scrapped for 26 NC counties after EPA approval

Emissions testing during vehicle inspections is likely to be scrapped for 26 counties now that a new North Carolina law has the support of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA signed the proposed rule on July 16, according to the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality.

It could take up to five months before drivers notice the changes, however, as several more steps are required before the Division of Motor Vehicles can implement the new rule.

State lawmakers passed the changes in 2017 as part of Senate Bill 131 — “an act to provide further regulatory relief to citizens of North Carolina” — and Gov. Roy Cooper signed it into law last spring. But it still required the EPA to be on board.

State Rep. Michele Presnell, a Republican from Burnsville, led the push for the changes, according to multiple reports. Presnell serves District 118, which includes Haywood County.

“People in my district cannot afford to replace parts on their cars that cost hundreds of dollars that do little to nothing to improve emissions,” Presnell told The Smoky Mountain News in 2016. “My constituents are tired of paying good money for useless government-mandated testing.”

With final approval, emissions testing will be removed from the following counties: Brunswick, Burke, Caldwell, Carteret, Catawba, Chatham, Cleveland, Craven, Edgecombe, Granville, Harnett, Haywood, Henderson, Lenoir, Moore, Nash, Orange, Pitt, Robeson, Rutherford, Stanly, Stokes, Surry, Wayne, Wilkes and Wilson.

The testing would still be required in 22 counties: Alamance, Buncombe, Cabarrus, Cumberland, Davidson, Durham, Forsyth, Franklin, Gaston, Guilford, Iredell, Johnston, Lee, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, New Hanover, Onslow, Randolph, Rockingham, Rowan, Union and Wake.

The push follows changes from 2015 that ended North Carolina emissions tests for cars less than 3 years old and with fewer than 70,000 miles.

At the time The News & Observer reported on those changes, the then-N.C. Department of Environmental and Natural Resources was already planning to remove the tests completely in 27 to 31 of the 48 counties where they were required. (DENR changed its name to the Department of Environmental Quality in September 2015.)

“North Carolina’s air quality has improved significantly since emissions testing requirements were expanded for motor vehicles in the early 2000s,” former DENR Secretary Donald R. van der Vaart said in a 2015 news release. “We studied the air quality improvements ... and concluded that we could eliminate emissions testing for motor vehicles in numerous counties without harming air quality or violating federal standards.”

This story was originally published July 26, 2018 at 11:21 AM with the headline "Vehicle emissions testing likely scrapped for 26 NC counties after EPA approval."