January 2003
EPA Issues Weak Snowmobile and ATV Emissions Rule
from the Natural Trails and Water Coalition
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved a final rule establishing air pollution standards for snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and dirt bikes on September 13, 2002. As details have emerged from EPA, it is increasingly clear that the final rule is even weaker than anticipated. It fails to take a forward-looking approach to technology, backslides on pollution from all-terrain vehicles, and misses an opportunity to harness market forces to encourage greater pollution reductions.
The final rule includes a number of serious flaws:
- It postpones even the modest air pollution reductions for snowmobiles by two years until 2012 rather than 2010 as proposed;
- It fails to require the greatest pollution reductions achievable with technology that will be available as required by the Clean Air Act;
- According to EPA, 30 percent of new snowmobiles produced after 2012 could be powered by more conventional two-stroke engines;
- It backslides on ATV standards by allowing new ATVs to produce more pollution than the EPA proposed only a year ago; and
- It yields to the off-road vehicle industry on pollution labeling by opting for temporary rather than permanent labels.
The Clean Air Act requires the EPA to set emission standards that will achieve the greatest reductions possible with technology that "will be available." This is designed to utilize innovation to cut pollution more than what could be achieved by only applying technology that is available on the date a rule is issued. EPA has failed to take this forward-looking approach. Production line snowmobiles today equipped with four-stroke engines cut hydrocarbon pollution by as much as EPA would require a decade from now. The final rule allows this industry to coast along with static technology for years to come rather than establish standards that would promote greater innovation, and more significantly cut harmful air pollution.
As anticipated, the EPA bowed to industry pressure by rejecting a permanent pollution labeling system. EPA had an opportunity to utilize market forces to encourage even greater pollution reductions by adopting a simple, common sense label that would allow consumers to distinguish between the dirtiest and cleanest off-road vehicles. With this information, consumers could drive the market toward cleaner technology with their purchases.
Senator Reid Blasts Department of Interior for Altering Park Service Comments on EPA Rule In an unexpected development, Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) released a statement yesterday with information that demonstrates how political appointees in the Department of Interior continue to disregard and overrule the recommendations of Park Service professionals. As reported today in the New York Times, Associated Press and elsewhere, Senator Reid received a copy of Park Service comments on the EPA rule which raised strong concerns that the emission standards being considered would not address the serious air pollution problem caused by snowmobiles in Yellowstone. Those comments were then heavily edited by the Department to remove the Yellowstone specific examples before being submitted to EPA.
Senator Reid explained: "I have a copy of those comments that shows how they were redacted by the Interior Department. The Bush Administration pulled teeth out of the comments and cut the legs out from under its own scientists. The Administration decided to listen to the industry instead of its own experts."
Once again, Park Service professionals have been overruled by an Administration focused on a single goal maintaining large-scale snowmobile use in America's first National Park. This also demonstrates the very direct connection between the EPA's rule to regulate snowmobile and other off-road vehicle emissions and the Administration's tortured efforts to prove that new snowmobiles will not adversely affect air quality in the Park. Based on Senator Reid's comments and press reports, it is clear that the Service did not believe that EPA's standards would address the problem.
Visit the website (www.naturaltrails.org) for a fact sheet which provides additional information about the problem and the elements of the final rule.