Idaho lawmakers want to eliminate Treasure Valley’s vehicle emissions testing requirements
Idaho lawmakers want to remove vehicle emissions testing requirements in the state and said the program is no longer needed.
The Senate will soon vote on a measure that would eliminate vehicle emissions testing requirements in the Boise area after a panel of legislators moved the bill forward Tuesday.
Currently, state law only requires emissions testing for vehicles in metropolitan areas with a certain amount of motor vehicle emissions — Ada and Canyon counties. The testing determines the level of pollutants being expelled in a car’s exhaust. Senate Bill 1254 would repeal Idaho code with those requirements and eliminate an air quality council in the Treasure Valley.
Ada County has had an emissions testing program in place since the 1980s, while Canyon County has only required emissions testing since 2010. Vehicles must be tested every other year.
Sen. Lori Den Hartog, a Meridian Republican and co-sponsor of the bill, told the Senate Transportation Committee on Tuesday that the Treasure Valley’s air quality has improved and pointed to modernized vehicles that produce fewer emissions and improvements in industrial emissions.
“One of the reasons we can bring this piece of legislation to repeal that testing requirement is because we’ve done a great job here in Ada County of improving our air quality,” Den Hartog said.
The bill would leave in place a requirement for the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality to review air quality annually and determine if Idaho airsheds meet national air quality standards. If air quality does decline, the department could petition the Legislature to create a regional air quality advisory committee to reduce pollution.
Den Hartog said those provisions act as a safeguard even if emissions requirements are removed.
“By ending the vehicle emissions testing program, we’re not saying, ‘We’ve solved all our problems, we wipe our hands of it,’” she said. “We still care about air quality, and we still want to make sure that we don’t face issues, either here in the Treasure Valley or in other airsheds across the state.”
‘Premature’ to remove program, Idaho Conservation League says
Tiffany Floyd, head of the Idaho DEQ’s air quality division, told the committee that the agency feels the emissions testing program “doesn’t feel like it’s worthy of continuing based on the reduction we’re seeing for what we’re paying.”
Floyd noted that the Treasure Valley’s air quality isn’t in violation of Environmental Protection Agency air quality standards, but it is above 85% of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone, putting it in a “buffer zone” that could escalate to violate standards.
The Idaho Conservation League has opposed the bill and said it puts the Treasure Valley at risk of becoming non-compliant with federal air quality requirements. Jonathan Oppenheimer, government relations director for the Idaho Conservation League, testified against the legislation Tuesday.
“While we recognize that there has been forward progress relative to vehicle emissions, we remain concerned that it’s premature to remove some of these requirements,” Oppenheimer said.
He said the bill relies on findings from a DEQ study that isn’t expected to be completed until 2023. The DEQ currently has an air quality agreement with the EPA that ends this year. Den Hartog said officials with the state agency believe they can demonstrate that air quality has improved enough in the Treasure Valley to end the emissions program.
This story was originally published February 8, 2022 at 6:14 PM.
