Tennessee moves closer to asking Trump administration to end emissions test requirement

Adam Tamburin | The Tennessean

Show Caption Hide Caption White House Orders EPA To Loosen Clean Air Rules President Donald Trump ordered the Environmental Protection Agency last week to dramatically overhaul national clean air standards and make it easier for industry to pollute in areas where it’s already dangerous to breathe.

Tennessee is moving forward with its plan to eliminate emissions testing in multiple counties, and is preparing to ask the Trump administration to roll back regulations to make the change possible.

The state hosted public hearings in Nashville and Chattanooga last week that moved the state one step closer to stopping annual emission tests for thousands of local drivers in Middle and East Tennessee.

Next, the state will present the plan to the Air Pollution Control Board, and then the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation already has collected data showing emissions tests are no longer needed to keep air here clean and safe, although advocates say walking away from annual testing will have negative effects.

Metro Council members have opted to keep emissions testing in Nashville until at least 2022. But if the state's effort succeeds, tests in Hamilton, Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson and Wilson counties will end.

'Not an issue for us,' state lawmaker says

State Sen. Ferrell Haile, who sponsored the 2018 legislation that kick-started the effort, said air quality has improved since emissions testing started in the 1980s.

"This is just not an issue for us," said Haile, R-Gallatin.

Nashville began testing car emissions in 1985, based on air testing that found local air quality wasn't up to standards set by the Clean Air Act. A lengthy report prepared by the state found quality had improved enough that testing was no longer necessary.

But local activists, and a key member of the Nashville council, are skeptical of the state's conclusion that emissions testing is no longer necessary to meet federal air quality requirements.

A report released this year by the American Lung Association that measured pollution across several Tennessee counties found mixed results. Wilson County scored an "A"; Sumner and Williamson counties got a "B"; Davidson County got a "C"; and Shelby County got an "F."

Council member Freddie O’Connell, who championed a suite of environmental investments he called the “Nashville Green New Deal” earlier this year, said the testing was still beneficial for air quality.

“My suspicion is ending emissions testing does not in fact create a benefit to the quality of air in Nashville,” O’Connell said. “I think it is to the benefit of Nashville and Nashvillians for us to be able to continue testing vehicles for emissions.”

The city's current contract lasts through June 2022, at which point the council will have to decide if it wants to continue the testing.

"They can opt in if they want to, if they want to continue charging their residents," Haile said. "I think it would be a huge mistake to do that."

Environmental activist Eli Motycka disagreed.

Motycka is an organizer with the Nashville hub of the Sunrise Movement, a youth-driven campaign calling for action on climate change. In a statement, he called the state's efforts "an assault on the air that we breathe."

"This legislation is part of a larger effort to erode basic standards of accountability for a fossil fuel industry," he said. It "will disproportionately affect those with asthma and respiratory problems and those in cities and low-lying areas. For Davidson County, that is North Nashville, Downtown, Germantown, and East Nashville."

In the last fiscal year, there were 581,500 emissions tests completed; 47,155 vehicles failed emissions test in the same timeframe.

Nashville collects $3.50 for every emissions test that is completed.

In the last fiscal year, the city got about $2 million from test fees. That money goes into the city's general fund to cover the costs of the program, according to health department spokesperson Brian Todd.

Reach Adam Tamburin at 615-726-5986 and atamburin@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter @tamburintweets.