Coloradans may face stricter and more costly pollution controls on their automobiles as the state struggles to combat smog on the Front Range and greenhouse gases around the world.
Among the things state officials are considering is a less polluting blend of gasoline that would add as much as 8 cents to the price of a gallon at the pump. Another proposal would toughen tailpipe tests, tripling the failure rate, so 8.4 percent of vehicles would not pass and would need repair work.
After a summer in which the metro area failed to meet federal clean-air standards for ozone, the Regional Air Quality Council on Wednesday began exploring options to cut ozone-forming pollutants – starting with dirty cars and trucks.
Two days earlier, Gov. Bill Ritter directed regulators to look at tightening emissions standards on new vehicles as part of his plan to roll back the state’s production of greenhouse gases by 80 percent over the next four decades.
The gases have been linked to rising global temperatures.
“We’re a growing area, and we’re going to have more and more cars and trucks on the road, so trying to make them as clean as we can makes some sense,” said Ken Lloyd, the air-quality council’s executive director.
While other sources – such as power suppliers and oil- and-gas producers – are also under scrutiny, the first target is the motor vehicle.
“The individual automobile is part of our culture and a part of our life,” said Matt Baker, executive director of Environment Colorado. “It also is a major contributor to greenhouse-gas pollution and to ozone.”
The summer’s violation of the health standard for ozone in the metro area is forcing the state to consider new types of alternative fuels and tougher tailpipe tests. Areas that do not meet clean-air standards are required by the federal Clean Air Act to come up with ways to cut pollution and submit them to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Ozone is a corrosive gas that can impair breathing – particularly in the young, the elderly and people with respiratory ailments.
Gasoline can be made less volatile so less of it evaporates. Changing the blend, however, could add 8 cents to a gallon, said Garry Kaufman, manager of the state health department’s mobile-sources program.
The state also could toughen and expand the much-maligned tailpipe tests, boosting overall failure rates for cars from 2.7 percent to 8.4 percent, said Jim Sidebottom, a researcher with the mobile-sources program.
A high-emitter-identification pilot program is scheduled to start in January that will use remote sensing devices and license-plate cameras to find the worst polluters. Owners of those vehicles will be contacted by mail and required to take them in for tests and repairs.
The state is also starting a “cash for clunkers” program that will provide money from a $150,000 fund to vehicle owners who turn in older, dirtier cars that can’t be repaired.
“We should be able to take the worst of the worst off the road,” Sidebottom said.
Donald Stedman, a University of Denver chemistry professor who studies vehicle emissions, said most of the problem comes from a few vehicles and that the state should focus on them instead of targeting the vast majority of clean cars.
“Less than 1 percent are gross emitters,” he said. “A few bad actors are just amazing.”
Meanwhile, under Ritter’s proposal to address climate change, Colorado would join 15 other states in requiring cleaner-burning, more fuel-efficient cars from manufacturers to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide – the main greenhouse gas.
“Can Coloradans really make a difference?” Ritter asked in his preface to the plan. “I believe we can, and that we have a moral obligation to try.”
Other options being considered
- Requiring the test annually instead of every two years and testing vehicles less than 4 years old.
- Reinstituting the tests in El Paso, Larimer and Weld counties, which ended their participation Jan. 1.
- Eliminating the current provision that allows motorists to waive the test after spending at least $715 on emissions repairs.