Copyright 2000 The Tribune Co. Publishes The Tampa Tribune
The Tampa Tribune
May 14, 2000, Sunday, FINAL EDITION
SECTION: COMMENTARY, Pg. 3
LENGTH: 946 words
HEADLINE:
Air quality and EPC's position on motor vehicle inspections;
BODY:
Recently two letters to the
Tribune expressed concerns over Tampa Bay's air quality and the
possibility of ending the motor vehicle inspection program in Hillsborough
and Pinellas counties. I offer the following comments to give the citizens
of Hillsborough County a better understanding of our ozone situation.
Federal regulations will require the nationwide use of
low-sulfur gasoline by 2004 to reduce vehicle emissions.
The use of low-sulfur gasoline is a proven vehicle emissions
control technology that is currently being used in California, Georgia,
Japan and parts of Europe. Sulfur in gasoline
inhibits the performance of an automobile's emission control device.
Vehicle manufacturers have committed to making vehicles that pollute less,
but to accomplish this task, the sulfur content of
gasoline must be reduced. In an effort to minimize the
increasing problem of vehicle emissions, the Environmental Protection
Agency, in cooperation with automobile manufacturers, established
low-sulfur vehicle emission standards. Finalized a few
months ago, these rules set limits on the sulfur content of
gasoline and require low sulfur gasoline
to be implemented nationwide beginning in 2004.Tampa Electric Co. recently
settled a lawsuit with the state Department of Environmental Protection and
the EPA for emissions violations. The agreements, which call for emissions
reductions from their Big Bend and Gannon plants, is expected to reduce
nitrogen oxide from the 1998 levels of approximately 67,000 tons per year
to just over 6,000 tons by the year 2011. Sulfur dioxide is
also expected to be reduced from 175,000 tons to around 13,000 tons during
this same time frame. Tampa will not have to wait 10 years to see
benefits. By 2001, sulfur dioxide emissions are expected to
drop by nearly 90,000 tons from 1998 levels, while by 2003 the nitrogen
oxide emissions are expected to decrease by 4,000 tons per year from 1998
levels. This nitrogen oxide decrease is more than 10 times the estimated
benefits of the current vehicle inspection program.
In the late '80s EPA
cited the Tampa Bay area as having one of the highest vehicle tampering
rates in the nation. The state Legislature acted by establishing the Motor
Vehicle Inspection Program. Implemented in Florida's six urban counties in
1991, the inspection program was an effective tool in ensuring compliance
for hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide emissions. Since its implementation,
Hillsborough County's vehicle emissions failure rates have gone from 16 percent
in 1991 to 6 percent in 1999. Scientists have since come to realize that
our attentions should not be focused solely on hydorcarbon and carbon
monoxide, but also on oxides of nitrogen. Although the current inspection
program does not test for nitrogen oxide, it is assumed that by testing for the
other two ozone precursors that we achieve a nitrogen oxide savings of
only one ton per day. To put this in perspective, the total nitrogen oxide
output for both Hillsborough and Pinellas counties is several hundred tons
per day making the one ton savings from the inspection program
inconsequential.
This past winter DEP requested authority from EPA
to end the inspection program in Duval, Palm Beach, Broward and Dade
counties. Should their request be approved, Hillsborough and Pinellas would
be the only remaining counties participating in the program and the state
has no plans to expand it to surrounding counties. It is estimated that
more than 100,000 daily vehicle trips are made to Hillsborough and
Pinellas by people residing in Pasco, Polk, Manatee, Sarasota and Hernando. This
travel activity certainly is a major contributor to our air quality and
yet these counties have no requirements to control their vehicle
emissions. Ozone is a regional air pollutant that is not confined to
geopolitical boundaries, so it is unreasonable to assume that a two-county
emissions test will effectively control auto emissions for the entire west
coast of Florida. It is with this in mind that we do not endorse the
continuation of the inspection program. For the vehicle inspection program
to be effective, it would need to be enhanced to test for nitrogen oxide and
required in the surrounding counties. There appears to be little support
for this kind of expansion: thus we recommend ending it. Until this
legislatively mandated program is officially ended, Hillsborough and
Pinellas residents will continue to expend nearly $ 20 million per year to
have their cars tested and receive little air quality benefit in return.
When the EPA's tougher eight-hour ozone standards are implemented,
probably in early 2001, Hillsborough, Pinellas and possibly a couple of
the adjacent counties will be declared nonattainment areas for ozone
quality. DEP will then have 18 months to revise the state's air quality
compliance plan. Taking into consideration the future benefits of the TECO
settlement and the EPA requirement for cleaner cars and
gasoline, it is possible that the ozone control strategy
has already been addressed. Since traffic data indicate that the
automobile's contribution to ozone levels should be decreasing at least
until 2005, it is unlikely that we would face the possibility of losing
federal transportation dollars.
I hope this letter has served to clear
up any misinformation concerning Tampa Bay's air quality and EPC's
position on the Motor Vehicle Inspection Program.
- JERRY CAMPBELL
Tampa The writer is Air Management Division director of the
Environmental Protection Commission of Hillsborough County.
NOTES: LETTERS
LOAD-DATE: May
15, 2000 
