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Vehicle Emissions Testing

Is it gone for good?

By John Riley, Member of Stop The VET

Oct. 31, 2003

    Vehicle emissions testing (VET) in Jefferson County Kentucky officially ends as of November 1st, 2003.  But will it remain gone, or will it be back?  The answer, I believe, lies in the carefully chosen words of Mayor Jerry Abramson, who said: "I can't ever imagine the VET, as it presently exists ... coming back into our community," and with the citizens.

    The key words here are: "as it presently exists"!  Translated, those key words mean that the goal now will be to change the requirements and revive the VET in some other form. 

    Here is what I believe his goal will be, what we can expect, and what we need to do to stay in control of the situation.

    According to the reports, Mayor Abramson will name a 25-35 member "task force" to advise him on ways to improve air quality to meet the EPA standards. How about the 26 member Louisville Metro Council?  No, that apparently won't work for Mayor Abramson, who will undoubtedly try to stack the deck in making appointments to the "task force", and I expect the goal will be to revive the VET. 

    I believe the goal will be to divide the people by proposing to exempt newer cars (3-5 year old cars or newer). This seems to make sense and should have been done long ago; however, very, very few vehicles tested under the current system which are 10-12 even 14 years old or newer fail the present test.  This tactic is purely to divide the ranks of the people to continue the VET fraud and should never be accepted. The citizens should not accept this and should let the Mayor know it is unacceptable!

Take a look at the VET facts:

According to the 2002 VET Annual Report of Emissions Testing.

Passenger Autos and Light Trucks

Total tested     = 405,218

Total failed      =  15,566

Total % failed  =    3.84%

Take a little closer look:

Vehicle model years of 2000-2003  (4 model years) = 16.42% of all vehicles tested.

Total tested    = 66,518

Total failed     =       52

Total % failed  =  0.08%

Vehicle model years 1990-1999 (10 model years) = 66.65 % of all vehicles tested.

Total tested    = 270,088          

Total failed     =    5,316

Total % failed =     1.97%

All 1990 and newer auto's and light trucks represent 83.07% of the total tested!

Total tested models 1990+     = 336,606

Total failed models 1990+      =    5,368

Total % failed models 1990+  =     1.59%

All 1989 and older vehicles represent 16.93% of the total tested.

Total tested 1989 and older  =  68,612

Total failed 1989 and older   =  10,198

Total % failed 1989 and older =  14.86%

    Clearly, it is a wasted effort to test vehicles 4 years old or newer!

However, as you can see, it is also clearly a wasted effort to test vehicles 14 years old or newer! Only 1.59% of all vehicles 14 years old or newer failed the test. So don't fall for the 3-5 year old or newer exemption sleight of hand!

    Now, let’s look just a little bit closer and understand that of all vehicles 1990+ totaled 336,606 of which 331,238 passed the test. Although the information is not included in the report the vast majority of the vehicles that passed the test passed substantially below the standard. The vast majority of the 1989 and older vehicles are driven far fewer miles that the 1990+ models.

    Many of the older vehicles are only used occasionally if at all. An example is one older gentleman I met who owned an older pickup truck that he kept around in case he needed to haul something, and he rarely if ever used it.  Many of the 1989 and older vehicles are owned by the elderly and less fortunate citizens of our community.

    The citizens of Louisville Metro (formally Jefferson County) should be informed of the facts about VET testing rather than simply led to believe that 3-5 year old cars should be exempt simply to divide the ranks of citizens in order to continue the VET fraud.

    The National Academy of Science produced a report about VET testing which indicated that the benefits (pollution credits) which are claimed as a result of VET testing are overstated by 50-100%. In other words, there may be no net benefits at all. However, by claiming these overstated benefits (pollution credits), the local officials are able to go easy on or ignore certain commercial and industrial polluters.  It's called CHEATING! 

    They have been cheating the citizens of Jefferson County for far too many years by claiming your credits at your expense and allowing any and all benefits (pollution credits) of the VET program to be offset by more commercial and industrial pollution.  The use of "pollution credits" by large commercial and industrial polluters creates "toxic hot spots" of pollution. A prime example of this is Louisville's Rubbertown area, where there is a high concentration of industrial polluters.

    Now that the VET is ending, and the commercial and industrial polluters can no longer use it to CHEAT the citizens out of the clean air they deserve, Jefferson County must demand the long awaited reductions in air pollution from the commercial and industrial polluters.  They have benefited financially for years on the backs of the citizens and at the expense of our air quality. The alternative is to re-implement the VET to take some of the heat off, but of course that is CHEATING and the citizens won't and shouldn't allow that any more.

    Now that the game is up and the VET cheating is ended, some of the industrial polluters are simply threatening to leave town.  Yes, this has been their threat all along.  Either find a way for us to continue the game, such as cheating the citizens via the VET, or we will leave town.

    VET testing is not about cleaning the air at all. It is about kow-towing to the large commercial and industrial polluters under the threat of taking away jobs from Jefferson County. It is about cheating the citizens of Jefferson County to pacify the all powerful EPA and avoiding the EPA threat of withholding large amounts of federal money from Jefferson County.

    This "do as I say or else" attitude from the EPA and the local commercial and industrial community has in the past been funneled down to the unsuspecting and seemingly helpless citizens that are too weak and dumb to make a stand.  It has been enabled by elected officials with no backbone and by unelected bureaucrats in control of the Jefferson County Air Pollution Control District. 

    This attitude of "VET test your car OR ELSE we will make you a criminal" will no longer be accepted by the citizens. We were told it was for "clean air".  That was a lie!  That was CHEATING! The citizens of Jefferson County stood up and said "NO MORE VET", and we mean "NO MORE VET". 

    I challenge our elected officials to represent the citizens for a change. Any commercial or industrial citizen that threatens to leave the game because they can no longer be allowed to cheat should be held accountable. 

    The average citizens of Jefferson County are not the major polluters of our own air, and we should demand the elected officials begin to treat us with respect and honesty. We should demand that the unelected bureaucrats that have enabled and promoted this fraud be held accountable. 

    We should never reward anyone, either private citizens or the largest corporate employer in Jefferson County, for doing what they should have been doing anyway!  Corporate "blackmail" via the threat of moving jobs should be prosecuted to the fullest, and the citizens should be made whole for their loss due to the VET fraud. It is up to the elected and unelected officials to do just that! 

    Is it too much to ask the elected and unelected officials to be accountable to the citizens that they represent? After all, they do still work for us, don’t they?

    I suggest that Mayor Abramson scrap the feel good "BS" of naming another "task force" and simply demand that the major polluters of our air reduce their emissions and to hold them accountable to the citizens if they attempt to simply pick up stakes and leave because they can no longer cheat. 

    Now, as far as autos and light trucks are concerned, I recommend the following:

1) The VET testing fraud is over, so get over it and move on.

2) Pass an ordinance that would allow the police to issue citations for vehicles (Jefferson County or not) for excess emissions only if there is probable cause and evidence to believe (such as excessive smoke or leaking oil or gas) that the vehicle is a threat to the air quality.

The EPA should give us some credit for that.

3) Encourage (without force) people to maintain their vehicles. (Most people do that anyway.) Most new cars are not recommended to be tuned up for the first 100,000 miles anyway.

4) Open and operate 1 or 2 at the most VET testing centers for voluntary testing (at cost) only so that citizens who want an honest evaluation of their cars can test them if they want.

5) Improve traffic movement within the community. Create a rapid response plan and a team that can go to an accident scene and concentrate on coordinating with police to quickly and efficiently move traffic through or around traffic accidents or other mishaps and construction sites that block or slow traffic. 

6) Place traffic control people at certain clearly identified problem areas and intersections or construction zones during rush hours and special events to minimize waiting through a single traffic light 2, 3 or more times to get through. What ever happened to the traffic cop with a loud whistle?  It works!

7) Work with planning and zoning to obtain the best possible designs for new developments BEFORE they are built to maximize efficient traffic flow.

8) Get rid of reformulated gas! It is more expensive and less efficient. Many people go elsewhere for non-reformulated gas anyway.

    Mayor Abramson, if you would implement only 3-4 of the suggestions above, you could count on remaining "Mayor for Life".  But, Please don't even try to revive the VET!

    So, bottom line, we don't need another "task force", Mayor.  What we need is for you to acknowledge that the VET is gone for good and let us move forward in an honest effort to achieve clean air and ask for the resignation of the current Director of the Air Pollution Control District, Art Williams.  Mayor, it's your credibility on the line now! 

    What to do now?

    Call Mayor Abramson at 574-2003 and let him know that you believe the Metro Council is fully capable and duly elected to represent you in this matter. Let him know that the "task force" idea may sound good to him but that you will not fall for it.  We don't need another task force, we need honesty.  Tell him VET testing is gone and you don't want it back in any form and to get his advice from your elected Council member!  Tell him you want someone to be accountable to you, and only the elected officials serve the citizens (subject to popular vote on election day). Tell him that appointed members of his task force are elected by no one but him. 

    Tell the Mayor that you want him to ask for the immediate resignation of Air Pollution Control Director Art Williams, because he has not been honest with nor has he served the best interests of the people.  The citizens of Metro Louisville cannot un-elect him.  Only you as the Mayor can ask for him to resign. Tell the Mayor you expect him to do just that.

    I will look forward to hearing from the Mayor if he responds!

Respectfully,

John Riley

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