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Regulatory

Announcement

Office of Transportation

and Air Quality

EPA420-F-04-059

December 2004

Proposed Rule for Amendments to

Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance

Program Requirements

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing a

regulation to revise outdated timing-related references in the Inspection

and Maintenance (I/M) rule such as submission dates, start dates,

evaluation dates, and other milestones and/or deadlines to make them

relevant for areas that will be newly required to begin I/M programs as a

result of being designated and classified under the 8-hour ozone

standard.

Summary of the Proposed Rule

The Agency is proposing minor revisions to the Motor Vehicle Inspection/Maintenance (I/M) regulation to update submission and implementation deadlines and other timing-related requirements to reflect the

nonattainment designations under the new 8-hour National Ambient Air

Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone. This proposal will also change

the model year requirement in the modeling calculation which will

establish the emission reduction target for I/M benefits.
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Key Elements of the Proposed Rule

This proposal would:

• Establish the implementation deadline for new I/M programs required under the 8-hour standard as 4 years after the effective date

of classification under the 8-hour standard. This proposal would also

clarify that the deadline for beginning OBD testing will be “coincident with program start up” for areas newly required to implement

I/M as a result of being classified under the 8-hour ozone standard.

• Change the current, fixed deadline for beginning program evaluation

testing to the more relative deadline of “no later than 1 year after

program start up.”

• Establish the submission deadline for new I/M state implementation

plans (SIPs) required under the 8-hour standard. The submission

deadline dates would be set for 1-year after the effective date of

final action on the current proposal.

Background

Under the Clean Air Act as amended in 1990, certain ozone nonattainment areas are required to adopt vehicle I/M programs as one of the

mandatory control measures used to reach attainment. On April 30, 2004

(69 FR 23951), EPA published a notice of final rulemaking addressing

several key requirements related to the implementation of the 8-hour

ozone standard originally promulgated on July 18, 1997 (62 FR 38856). 

Among other things, the 8-hour ozone standard implementation rule

established deadlines for meeting the 8-hour ozone standard based upon a

given area’s degree of non-attainment. The rule also addresses when SIPs

and attainment demonstration plans must be submitted.

As a result of the changes finalized by the 8-hour implementation rule,

EPA is issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking to revise outdated timingrelated references in the I/M rule such as submission dates, start dates,

evaluation dates, and other milestones and/or deadlines to make them

relevant for areas that will be newly required to begin I/M programs as a

result of being designated and classified under the 8-hour ozone standard.
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Public Participation Opportunities

We welcome your comments on this proposed rule. For instructions on

submitting written comments, please see the Federal Register notice. It

is available from the EPA Air Docket by calling (202) 566-1742; please

refer to Docket No. OAR-2004-0095. In addition, you can access the

proposed rule and related documents at the Office of Transportation and

Air Quality Web site at: 

www.epa.gov/otaq/epg/regs.htm.

For More Information

For further information on this proposed rulemaking, please contact:

Dave Sosnowski

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Office of Transportation & Air Quality

2000 Traverwood Drive

Ann Arbor, MI 48105

phone: (734) 214-4823

email: sosnowski.dave@epa.gov