Note: The following note was received from a staff member of the Federal Highway Administration in response to this Eric Peters column in the Washington Times (Jan. 26)..
Please suggest to Eric Peters that he might want to also mention EPA has used this tactic before to extract large sums of money from General Motors and more recently the diesel engine manufacturers.
As nearly as I can tell in both of these cases the required emission tests were also met but modifications were made that were outside the range of the test procedures.
The real problem is, as Peters notes, the unwillingness of the Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board to update the test procedures used to certify the desired level of emission control based on real world driving conditions and current technologies available to manage engine operations.
To do so would significantly increase the cost of motor vehicles that could then be traced directly back to a regulatory requirements. Drivers -- i.e., voters -- would become aware of the cost associated with continuing to ratchet down air quality standards. Better to shake down the industry than to clearly specify what government is really asking highway users to do.
In the meantime EPA can brag about reducing emissions by 97% (based on the old regulatory calculations, not real world measurements) thus supporting the their argument that technology can do no more and the nation must reduce vehicle travel.
So we use junk science to create air quality standards; junk regulations to pretend the problem is being controlled; and junk analysis to support the real objective of reducing personable mobility.
I've been waiting for 30 years for the public to catch on to the scam, but it just keeps getting worse. Thanks for your efforts to educate and for your web page. It helps a great deal to know that others understand.
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