Emissions testing targets NoCo ozone levels

New auto emission testing is coming to Northern Colorado this fall, despite opposition from officials in Larimer and Weld counties. With the benefits and burdens of the program will also come almost 100 new jobs.

Residents of the most populated portions of the region will be required to submit their vehicles to biennial or annual emission testing, depending on the age of the vehicle, beginning Nov. 1. The inclusion of Northern Colorado into the Denver metro area program has been in the works for a couple of years, according to Paul Tourangeau, director of the Air Pollution Control Division of Colorado’s Department of Public Health & Environment.

The Air Quality Control Commission initially expanded the Automobile Inspection and Readjustment program – known as AIR – to limited areas of Northern Colorado following the adoption of the state’s 2008 Ozone Action Plan. The plan was adopted after an ozone standard violation in 2007 at a monitor station at Rocky Flats.

“Non-attainment triggered the need to look at a whole slew of options to address emissions,” Tourangeau said.

One of those options was to expand the boundary for AIR testing. The AQCC did this to the extent of its authority at the time; however, the passage of Senate Bill 09-003 directed it to further review and expand the boundaries (see map).

The AQCC held a March 18 meeting in Weld County to confirm the boundaries, which encompass 85 percent of the vehicle population and about 15 percent of the two-county landmass, and set the date for implementation.

“These are challenging programs to implement because it touches all of us,” Tourangeau said.

At that meeting, both the Weld and Larimer County Commissions expressed concerns over the costs of the program relative to the benefits it would reap. Weld commissioners unanimously approved a resolution on Feb. 3 to oppose the expansion of the emission-testing program this year and wait until the implementation of a new Ozone Action Plan for 2013.

The Larimer County Commission submitted an official statement at the March hearing expressing similar concerns, and pointed out that other action items from the 2008 plan would have more of an impact at less of a cost to the general public.

In the 2008 Ozone Action Plan, the expansion of the testing program into the North Front Range is estimated to reduce ozone producing emissions – volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides (NOx) – by about one ton per day each. The plan listed several potential strategies that would have a much larger impact on emissions. For example, elimination of Colorado’s ethanol waiver for blended fuels would reduce VOC emissions by 10 tons per day. Emission controls on power plants, boilers and cement kilns was estimated to have a NOx reduction of 30 to 45 tons per day.

The Larimer County Commission was successful in arguing for a 2011 implementation for the Estes Park area so that more information on the emission impact there can be gathered.

Recent improvements

Weld County’s ozone monitoring site, which was in compliance for the 2007 to 2009 testing period, has seen improvements in the past three cycles. One of the Fort Collins monitors saw the same trend, but if any one of the 13 ozone monitors the federally mandated nine-county area, including Larimer and Weld, is in non-attainment, the entire area is in non-attainment.

Tourangeau also defended the program expansion by explaining that ozone does not form at the source of the emissions, but rather when NOx and VOCs react under certain conditions with sunlight. Often, the ozone becomes an issue far from the source of the emissions.

Tourangeau said that the AQCC is considering and has considered many options to remain in compliance. The oil and gas industry has implemented several rounds of emission controls that have had a tremendous impact already. He pointed out that the current Environmental Protection Agency standard of .075 parts per million is set for a reduction in the coming months, possibly as low as .06 ppm. Under the current standard, five monitoring sites were in non-attainment for the 2007 to 2009 monitoring period – South Boulder Creek, Chatfield State Park, Rocky Flats, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Fort Collins West. If the new standard goes as low as .06, all of the sites would be in non-attainment.

New testing stations

With the boundaries approved and the start date set. Colorado’s testing contractor Envirotest Systems Corp. is moving forward with plans to set up four testing stations in the region. The company has a long history and vast network of emission testing throughout the nation.

“We have programs in several states,´ said Renee Allen, public information manager for Envirotest.

In fact, the Connecticut-based company is the largest emission testing company in North America and one of the largest in the world. Envirotest has been operating centralized testing stations in the Denver area for 15 years and now runs 14 testing stations.

The stations conduct biennial tests for 1982 and newer vehicles using a dynamometer to simulate various driving conditions. A visual inspection and gas cap pressure test are also performed before giving a vehicle a pass or fail. Vehicles made before 1982 are given the tailpipe test, which was previously in place in Northern Colorado. Those tests are required annually.

The cost for the biennial test is $25 and the annual test is $15. Allen said that the company will be ready to start testing by November.

“We are working on acquiring all of the permits for building and will break ground as soon as possible,” she said. “We’re well into the process.”

Allen declined to give the specific locations selected for the stations but said there will be one each in Fort Collins, Loveland, Greeley and Dacono. Altogether, the sites will employ 80 to 100 workers.

Envirotest will also employ its mobile Rapid Screen program in Northern Colorado. The program uses remote sensing technology in panel trucks to test passing vehicles. If a vehicle gets two “clean” screens from one of the remote sensing points at least two months before its registration is due it can forego the trip to the testing station but the fee will still be required.

The emission testing business appears to be fairly lucrative. According to the Colorado State Auditor’s report on the AIR program, total 2008 revenue from the centralized testing stations, decentralized stations conducting tailpipe tests and the state oversight fee was $19.7 million.

The auditor’s report, released in September 2009, showed that of the 716,000 vehicles tested in the Denver metro area, 660,000, or 92 percent, passed the test at the first inspection. An additional 56,000 vehicles, or 8 percent, initially failed, and of those 49,000 were repaired and passed a retest.

The report concluded that while the program has been successful in reducing ozone-causing emissions, the reductions represent a relatively small amount in the grand scheme of the Denver metro ozone concentration, and “may be more expensive than those provided by other air pollution control strategies.”

on Facebook on LinkedIn