NORTH CAROLINA — The North Carolina Department of Air Quality determined the state can meet federal air requirements without annual vehicle emission inspections for 18 counties, including New Hanover, but environmentalists argue the change will harm public health even if air pollution levels remain under legal limits.
READ MORE: Bill filed to eliminate vehicle safety inspections
The 1970 Clean Air Act gave the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the authority to create the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. North Carolina previously required vehicle emission inspections in 48 counties to meet federal standards but a series of rollbacks reduced the figure to 19.
Last year’s budget included provisions prohibiting state agencies from enforcing emission standards for new vehicles and eliminated annual emissions inspections. The rules countered Gov. Roy Cooper’s 2022 executive order aiming to expand the state’s electric vehicle industry and reduce carbon emissions in the transportation sector.
The legislation directed the Department of Environmental Quality to create a plan to maintain federal air quality standards without car pollutant tests. The agency published an analysis Friday finding every county would stay under the limit without inspections and submitted it to the EPA for final approval.
The budget provision is similar to legislation introduced by Sen. Steve Jarvis (R-Davidson) and Carl Ford (R-Rowan) last year, which also would have rolled back annual safety inspections to every-other year. The bill didn’t make it out of the Senate Transportation Committee.
Emission inspections cost $30 but can lead to expensive repairs if a car fails to pass. Jarvis argued they disproportionately burden low-income car owners and are no longer necessary due to improvements in state air quality and automotive efficiency.
Critics of annual inspections, such as the John Locke Foundation, have argued the program is ineffective and corrupted by fraud. The Department of Justice fined a Charlotte auto repair owner $1.2 million for carrying out fraudulent emission inspections last year.
Alternatively, environmentalists including Grady McCallie — policy director of the North Carolina Conservation Network policy — argue it is unwise to take advantage of the state’s air quality gains by rolling back environmental regulations.
“I think it’s short-sighted,” Southern Environmental Law Center Brooks Pearson told PCD.
Two decades ago, North Carolina’s air ranked among the most-polluted in the nation. McCallie credited the 2002 Clean Smokestacks Act, which required significant emission reductions from the state’s coal plants, for recent air quality improvements.
“I think it is fair for folks to look at this and say, it may be that the Clean Air Act allows this to be removed,” he said. “But it’s not good for public health.”
McCallie said air pollution levels are calculated broadly at the state level and do not focus on individual health impacts of residents living near congested roadways.
“If you live near a road you’re getting exposed to a lot of pollution,” he said. “And for those folks vehicle inspections matter.”
Environmentalist groups have called for greater reform in the transportation sector — the state’s top source of carbon emissions — such as increasing public transit options. Those efforts have been stymied by a 2013 state law requiring the majority of North Carolina’s infrastructure investments to go to projects that benefit drivers.
Mecklenburg County’s air pollution levels remain close to federal limits, leading lawmakers to maintain it as the only North Carolina county to continue emission inspection requirements. Charlotte, Mecklenburg’s biggest city, came under fire from House Speaker Tim Moore earlier this year for its plan to increase investments in public transportation rather than roads.
DAQ spokesperson Shawn Taylor couldn’t confirm specific lobbying organizations behind the effort to remove emission inspections but said stakeholders including environmentalists and automobile businesses provided input.
McCallie told PCD mechanics who invested in emission-testing equipment have voiced opposition to the roll-back.
“Clearly somebody has been pushing for it in the legislature but I don’t know who,” he said.
The North Carolina Chamber of Commerce stated environmental provisions in the 2023 budget — including rolling back truck emission standards — were “the result of direct asks” from the lobbying organization. Auto manufacturers — several of which have a significant North Carolina presence — have also lobbied heavily against federal car emission regulation in recent years; Toyota spent $184,209 on state lobbying in 2023.
The Automotive Service and Tire Alliance — an association of independent automotive repair shops and tire dealers — lobbied against last year’s bill to reduce inspection requirements. ASTA formed in 2021 from the merger of two organizations, the Independent Garage Owners of North Carolina and the North Carolina Tire Dealers Association, that have opposed efforts to diminish state inspection requirements over the last decade.
PCD reached out to the organizations, including North Carolina’s chapter of the Automobile Dealers Association — which spent $306,485 on state lobbying in 2023 and has criticized recent federal emission standards — to ask their position on the state’s inspection rollbacks but did not receive a response by press.
Tips or comments? Email journalist Peter Castagno at peter@localdailymedia.com.
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