Good political timing certainly helped supporters of a new state emissions testing bill.
On March 12, the federal Environmental Protection Agency toughened the federal standards for ozone, the tailpipe pollutant that causes many of the Treasure Valley's air quality problems.
Twelve days later, senators passed the bill, which Gov. Butch Otter is expected to sign into law.
Yet this was no overnight success, nor a political accident. Clean air advocates have pushed for state and local air quality solutions, in an attempt to preempt EPA sanctions. They fought long and hard for an emissions testing bill.
The Treasure Valley Air Quality Council - the legislative brainchild of Boise Democratic Sen. David Langhorst and Meridian Republican Rep. Mark Snodgrass - was authorized in 2005.
The 14-member committee spent months studying the Valley's air quality, and the role traffic plays in the pollution problem.
Expanded emissions testing - encompassing the entire Valley, not just Ada County - was not the council's only proposal. But it was its most controversial idea, and on Monday, the proposal divided Treasure Valley senators. Canyon County Sens. Patti Anne Lodge, John McGee and Curt McKenzie opposed the emissions bill, a tough sell in their districts. Meridian Sens. Russell Fulcher and Shirley McKague also cast disappointing no votes.
Fortunately, 20 senators voted yes. And that's a victory for Langhorst and Snodgrass, for chairman Pete O'Neill and the rest of the Air Quality Council - and for everyone else who cares about the Valley's air.
