New Hampshire Motor Vehicle I/M SIP Revision 

New Hampshire Departments of Safety and Environmental Services May 12, 2011 

The State of New Hampshire 

Motor Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance 

State Implementation Plan Revision 

Attachment X: 

Comments Received and DES Responses Regarding Draft SIP Posting 

Prepared by: 

The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services 

Concord, NH 

November 1, 2011 

Attachment X: Comments Received and DES Responses Regarding Draft SIP Posting 1 
New Hampshire Motor Vehicle I/M SIP Revision 

New Hampshire Departments of Safety and Environmental Services May 12, 2011 

Attachment X: 

Comments Received and DES Responses from Draft SIP Posting 

A public comment period was held from December 24, 2010 to February 11, 2011, with a public hearing 

held on January 28, 2011. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 1 submitted comments 

on both the preliminary draft submitted March 30, 2010, and more recently by letter dated January 27, 

2011 on the draft open for public comment. Comments were also received from DMV on January 11, 

2011. This submission addresses all comments provided by EPA and DMV . No comments were 

received from the public . 

Comments received from NH DMV and Region 1 EPA, and DES responses are compiled below. 

Next 3 Pages 

EPA Region 1 Comments on 

Preliminary Draft State Implementation Plan Revision for 

The State of New Hampshire 

Motor Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance Program 

Submitted by DES on March 30, 2010 

Comments Received by DES on May 17, 2010 

Attachment X: Comments Received and DES Responses Regarding Draft SIP Posting 2 
New Hampshire Motor Vehicle I/M SIP Revision 

New Hampshire Departments of Safety and Environmental Services May 12, 2011 

UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

REGION 1 

1 CONGRESS STREET, SUITE 1100 

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02114-2023 

MAY i 22,110 

Mike FitzGerald 

Air Resources Division 

NH Department of Environmental Services 

29 Hazen Drive, PO Box 95 

Concord, NH 03302-0095 

Dear Mr. FitzGerald: 

By email dated March 30, 2010, EPA Region 1 received a draft copy of the State of New 

Hampshire (NH) Motor Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance State Implementation Plan 

(SIP) revision developed by the state's Department of Environmental Services (DES). 

NH DES is preparing this revision to reflect adopted changes to the state's motor vehicle 

inspection and maintenance (I/M) program and remain consistent with its SIP . 

We have reviewed the draft SIP revision and you will find the Agency's comments in the 

Enclosure. We would like to thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback on this 

draft SIP revision and we look forward to seeing a complete SIP submittal for New 

Hampshire's I/M program. 

If you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact Ariel Garcia of my staff at 

617-918-1660 . 

Sincerely, 

Anne Arnold, Manager 

Air Quality Planning Unit 

cc: Chris Skoglund, NH DES 

Thomas Fargo, NH DES 

Becky Ohler, NH DES 

Enclosure 

Toll Free " 1-888-372-7341 

Internal: Address (URL) " http :lr'www.epa.govlregiont 

Recycled/Recyclable -Printed with Vegeiable Oil Based Inks on Recycled Paper (Minimum 30°/6 Postconsumar) 

Attachment X: Comments Received and DES Responses Regarding Draft SIP Posting 3 
New Hampshire Motor Vehicle I/M SIP Revision 

New Hampshire Departments of Safety and Environmental Services May 12, 2011 

EPA Comments on Draft State Implementation Plan Revision for 

The State of New Hampshire 

Motor Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance Program 

1) Page 9, General Comment: The document currently before EPA for review contains 

only the I!M SIP narrative. NH DES should ensure that the rules related to the NH I/M 

program being submitted as part of the IIM SIP revision, address comments previously 

provided by EPA and are consistent with federal I/M rule requirements . 

2) Page 12 and Table 1 on Page 13: The Appendix IX Mobile 6.2 input and output files 

referenced in this section are not included in the draft currently before EPA for review . 

However, the IlM performance standard analysis (in contrast to an overall emissions 

reduction analysis) should be carried out irrespective of the geographic region of the 

program. That is, the MOBILE6.2 input files used for such an analysis would be 

identical and only differ in that one input file contains the I/M program that is used to 

represent the low-enhanced program and the other input file contains the I/M program 

representative of NH's I/M program. Therefore, EPA recommends removing references 

to the "Three County Area" in this discussion. 

3) Page 13, Table 1 : EPA recommends the I/M performance standard analysis also 

include emission factor estimates for Carbon Monoxide (CO). NH's CO maintenance 

plan, approved on November 29, 2000 (65 Federal Register 71060), includes the New 

Hampshire Enhanced Safety Inspection (ESI) Program as a contingency measure. 

4) Page 13 Section 3.1 #1 . : For clarity, and consistency with 40 CFR 51 .353(c)(3) this 

should be revised to read 

" . . .vehicles undergoing their initial fbefore repair) OBD II test in a given year 

in the Now 14ampshir-e pfegr-am ." 

5) Page 14, Section 4.1, 2°d Paragraph and Page 15, Section 4.2, 2nd Paragraph: Please 

clarify the fee charged by the State for each inspection sticker, $3.25 according to page 

14 and $2.50 according to page 15. 

6) Page. 16, Section 6.1, 2"d Paragraph: Reference is made to the diesel opacity testing 

program applying to all heavy-duty diesel-powered trucks. Please provide a gross 

vehicle weight rating (GV WR) for the "heavy-duty trucks" subject to this program, i .e. 

all vehicle with a GVWR of 8,501 pounds and greater can be considered "heavy-duty 

trucks". 

Same paragraph: Please clarify the statement "Vehicles that can present proof of having 

passed an opacity test in New Hampshire or any state within the year or can present. . ." 

Does "the year" refer to the calendar year or the previous 12 months? 

Attachment X: Comments Received and DES Responses Regarding Draft SIP Posting 4 
New Hampshire Motor Vehicle I/M SIP Revision 

New Hampshire Departments of Safety and Environmental Services May 12, 2011 

7) Page 17, Section 7.1 : MOBILE6.2 input files were not provided with this draft I/M SIP 

revision narrative. Please submit the I/M anti-tampering program command input to 

verify that the anti-tampering parameters discussed in this section are being modeled. In 

New Hampshire, model year 1990 through 1995 light-duty vehicles (LDGV, LDGT1, 

LDGT2, LDGT3 and LDGT4) are inspected for: (1) air pump system disablement; (2) 

catalyst removal; (3) evaporative system disablement ; (4) PCV system disablement; and 

(5) missing gas cap. The check for fuel inlet restrictor disablement (requiring catalyst 

replacement) is not currently modeled in New Hampshire MOBILE runs; however, we 

note that the fuel inlet restrictor check is mentioned in association with the check for the 

presence and proper fit of the gas cap. 

8) Page 19, Section 11 .1 and Page 20, Section 12.1 : Contrary to the discussion in these 

sections, it is EPA's understanding that New Hampshire does not utilize registration 

suspension (revoking a vehicle's registration) should a vehicle become non-compliant 

with the State's emissions or safety inspection. If such a program is in place, New 

Hampshire should cite where in the State's rules the registration denial/suspension 

procedure is established. The I/M program needs to have, at a minimum, an active 

registration denial system in place (denial on registration renewal or denial of new 

registrations for'vehicles that are not in compliance with the I/M program) in order to 

meet the requirements of EPA's final rule for enhanced IIM. EPA would like to discuss 

this issue with New Hampshire further prior to formal proposal of the SIP revision. 

9) Page 21, Section 13.1 : EPA encourages NH to continue to explore the possibility of 

incorporating covert audits into the I/M program. Covert audit practices may include 

visual inspections. However, EPA recommends dedicating initial resources to the more 

effective covert audit practices of using vehicle "set to fail" the OBD test, as is required 

by 40 CFR 5i .363(a)(4) and 40 CFR 51 .354(c). The use of covert vehicles can 

effectively be employed after the state's "triggers" analysis flags a potential problem. 

10) Page 25, Section 21 .1 : EPA recommends NH re-evaluate current available options 

for remote sensing. In operating an enhanced I/M program, remote sensing practices, as 

outlined by 40 CFR 51 .371, are essential for ensuring proper operation of the I/M 

program. Remote sensing practices would assist in identifying if there is a widespread 

issue of vehicles being operated out of compliance, and potentially only brought into 

compliance at the time of the vehicle's required annual inspection. 

11) EPA suggests that NH consider including an emissions reductions estimate for the 

program in the SIP narrative. 

Attachment X: Comments Received and DES Responses Regarding Draft SIP Posting 5 
New Hampshire Motor Vehicle I/M SIP Revision 

New Hampshire Departments of Safety and Environmental Services May 12, 2011 

DES Response to DMV Comments on 

Proposed State Implementation Plan Revision for 

The State of New Hampshire 

Motor Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance Program 

Received by DES as Word document w/ track changes January 11, 2011 

DMV Comment 1 : Entire document; replace references to "Gordon-Darby" with "vendor". Add 

"Vendor: Gordon-Darby, Inc." to definitions list, page 4 

DES Response 1 : Requested substitutions have been made. 

DMV Comment 2 : Section 1 .1, page 7 ; Replace "less than 85001bs. GVWR" with "less than 8501 lbs. 

GVWR" 

DES Response 2 : The requested substitution has been made. 

DMV Comment 3 : Section 2.2, page 9; The most recent revisions to Administrative Rules Part Saf-C 

3222 went into effect on June 20, 2008. 

DES Response 3 : Two substitutions from 2007 to June 20, 2008 have been made. 

DMV Comment 4: Section 4.1, page 12; Delete "There is a minimum charge to the inspection stations of 

$50 per month, which is paid by stations performing fewer than 11 inspections per month." 

DES Response 4: Text has been modified to reflect that inspection stations pay the vendor directly a fee 

of $50.00 per month or $5 .15 per test, whichever is greater . 

DMV Comment 5 : Section 4.2, page 12 ; Reference to "Highway Patrol and Enforcement Officers" 

should be just "Enforcement Officers" . 

DES Response 5 : The requested substitution has been made . 

DMV Comment 6: Section 6.1, page 13; References to a specific number of vehicles being inspected in 

particular year should be removed, as this is reporting. Not sure if this belongs in the SIP submittal 

document. 

DES Response 6 : The references to specific numbers of vehicles subjected to testing have been removed. 

DMV Comment 7 : Section 6 .1, page 13 ; Delete: "There are no exemptions from New Hampshire's OBD 

11 inspection program." 

DES Response 7 : This specific language has been removed. 

DMV Comment 8 : Section 8 .1, Page 15 ; Under subheading 1 . c., delete "owner"; Under subheading 1 . a. 

and 2 . b., replace "scan tool" with "test equipment". 

DES Response 8 : Requested changes have been made. 

Attachment X: Comments Received and DES Responses Regarding Draft SIP Posting 6 
New Hampshire Motor Vehicle I/M SIP Revision 

New Hampshire Departments of Safety and Environmental Services May 12, 2011 

DMV Comment 9 : Section 9.1, page 16; Under subheading 4., delete : "Windshield replacement facilities 

are provided with a safety-only NHOST system to facilitate and ensure tracking of all stickers ." 

DES Response 9 : The change has been made. DES understands that stickers provided to windshield 

replacement facilities are tracked manually, outside the NHOST system . 

DVM Comment 10: Section 10.1, page 16; Delete "NH does not issue waivers" and "A total of 52 

waivers were provided in CY 2008. In addition, 18 "Directors 

Certificates" were", and replace the latter with: ""Administrator's Certificates" are" 

DES Response 10: Section 10 .1 has been rewritten to better reflect practices set forth in Part Saf-C 

3222 .08 and program data since 2007. 

DMV Comment 11 : Section 11 .1, pages 16 & 17; Need to add in to compliance rate . This seems to be 

reporting . 

DES Response 11 : This section has been clarified in response to comments from EPA. 

DMV Comment 12: Section 11 . l, page 17; Delete section title and paragraph on "Enhanced Safety 

Inspection Program Compliance" 

DES Response 12: The section on "Enhanced Safety Inspection Program Compliance" has been revised 

to reflect the tampering detection and enforcement provisions of Part Saf-C 3222 .04 and the limitations 

for compliance monitoring imposed by State law RSA 266 :1 VII-a (b). 

DMV Comment 13 : Section 12.1, page 18; Second paragraph, delete "including owner" 

DES Response 13 : Requested change have been made 

DMV Comment 14: Section 13.1, page 19; Third paragraph, delete "1-day" and delete entire fourth 

paragraph regarding covert audits . 

DES Response 14: 1-day is deleted . Covert audits are a specific federal requirement, therefore this 

section has not been removed, but has been revised to reflect that the state will evaluate development of a 

covert auditing program and may solicit proposals from OBD vendors to perform this function. 

DMV Comment 15 : Section 14.1, page 19; Replace "An inspector who performs an invalid inspection is 

normally given a criminal violation plus he/she is disciplined administratively ." with "An inspector who 

performs an invalid inspection and the station owner is disciplined administratively." 

DES Response 15 : Requested changes have been made. 

DMV Comment 16: Section 14 .1, page 19; Delete : "Following a hearing, they can be punished by 6 

points on their driving record - the same points as a first-time DWI." 

DES Response 16 : Requested change has been made. 

DMV Comment 17 : Section 17.1, page 20; First paragraph, delete "1-day"; and second paragraph, delete 

"assuring the technical competence of inspection personnel." 

DES Response 17 : see changes made 

Attachment X: Comments Received and DES Responses Regarding Draft SIP Posting 7 
New Hampshire Motor Vehicle I/M SIP Revision 

New Hampshire Departments of Safety and Environmental Services May 12, 2011 

DMV Comment 18 : Section 17.1, page 21 ; Delete entire second and third paragraphs: 

DES Response 18 : 40 CFR 51 .367 outlines required components for OBD inspector training and 

certification. The description needs to detail how the current DMV training program addresses the 

requirements set forth in these EPA rules. The description has been edited, but the paragraphs have not 

been deleted . 

DMV Comment 19 : Section 18.1, page 21 ; First paragraph, delete "diagnose and resolve the issues of 

the various customer types, which include" 

DES Response 19 : language has been revised 

DMV Comment 20: Section 18.1, page 21 ; Fourth paragraph, change hours and days of operation from 

"(6 AM to 9 PM, Monday through Saturday)" to "(8 AM to 6 PM, Monday through Friday)" 

DES Response 20 : Requested changes have been made. 

DMV Comment 21 : Section 18.1, page 21 ; Fifth paragraph, replace "upon entry of a zip code location" 

with "listed by county" 

DES Response 21 : Requested changes have been made. 

DMV Comment 22: Section 19 .1, page 22; Replace "National Association of Automotive Excellence" 

with "National Institute of Automotive Service Excellence (ASE)" 

DES Response 22 : Requested changes have been made. 

Attachment X : Comments Received and DES Responses Regarding Draft SIP Posting 8 
New Hampshire Motor Vehicle I/M SIP Revision 

New Hampshire Departments of Safety and Environmental Services May 12, 2011 

DES Response to EPA Comments on 

Proposed State Implementation Plan Revision for 

The State of New Hampshire 

Motor Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance Program 

February 16, 2011 

EPA Comment 1 : Page 10, Tables 1 and 2: The modeling runs conducted using the MOBILE6.2 input 

files provided in Attachment VII, include CO emissions in the modeling of the I/M program performance 

standard analysis . EPA recommends the CO emission factor results also be included in Tables 1 and 2. 

DES Response 1 : Tables 1 and 2 and the report text have been modified to include the CO data. 

Attachment VI has also been modified. 

EPA Comment 2: Page 13, Section 5 .1 : To appropriately address the requirements of 40 CFR 51 .355(b), 

we recommend including a list consisting of test station names and addresses of stations participating in 

the decentralized program, as an Attachment to this I/M SIP submittal. 

DES Response 2: A list of all NH motor vehicle inspection stations that perform OBD testing is 

maintained on the httu ://www.nhinspect .com/ website. A copy of this list, downloaded on February 11, 

2011 has been added as Attachment IX of the submittal. As of this date, NH had 1,818 inspection 

stations . 

EPA Comment 3 : Page 14 and 15, Sections 6 .2, 7.2, and 8.2 : For consistency, we recommend making the 

appropriate reference to "Section 2 .2" and "Saf-C 3222.03". 

DES Response 3 : The noted references have been expanded. 

EPA Comment 4 : Page 16, Section 10.1 : "Hardship time extensions" are essentially waivers issued for a 

single inspection cycle. We recommend eliminating the first sentence that reads, "NH does not issue 

waivers". Since later on in the same paragraph, reference is made to "A total of 52 waivers were 

provided in CY 2008 ." 

In addition, NH should revise the NH I/M program's MOBILE 6.2 input file to reflect these waivers. 

Currently the waiver rate value is zero and the more realistic waiver rate should be used (for example 

rounding up to 0.5% or 1%). This small change in waiver rate should have no, or little, effect on the UM 

emission factors provided in the FM performance standard analysis on Page 10 and Table 1 . 

DES Response 4: DES has modified the language in this section to reflect the "economic hardship time 

extensions" and "Directors Certificates" that are provided by the Department of Motor Vehicles. 

MOBILE6.2 guidance defines the Command Function for UM Waiver Rates as a "Required record if I/M 

program is modeled, indicating percentage of vehicles failing initial 1/M test and do not have to pass a 

retest". Relative to revising the MOBILE6.2 input files, the rate of issuance of the economic hardship 

time extensions plus Directors Certificates, which combined represent those vehicles that do not have to 

pass a retest', was 0.018 percent in CY 2007, 0.056% in CY 2008, and 0.13 percent in CY 2009. 

Combined over the three year period, the rate of waiver issuance is 0.07%. DES changed NH's model 

input for I/M waivers in MOBILE6 .2 from 0 .0% to 0 .5% (Attachment VII) . As discussed with EPA 

' Per Mobile6.2 guidance, the rate of waiver issuance (in percent) is calculated by adding the number of economic 

hardship wavers to the number of directors certificates, and then dividing by the number of vehicles failing the 

initial OBD test, times 100. 

Attachment X: Comments Received and DES Responses Regarding Draft SIP Posting 
New Hampshire Motor Vehicle I/M SIP Revision 

New Hampshire Departments of Safety and Environmental Services May 12, 2011 

Region 1 staff, this simulated waiver rate is conservatively greater than the observed waiver rate over the 

three years for which data are available . 

EPA Comment 5 : Page 16, Section 10.1 : We recommend providing some reference to how NH addresses 

vehicles on EPA's "Attachment D" vehicles list, which contains a list of problem vehicles recognized by 

EPA as having issues for OBD II testing . 

DES Response 5 : The EPA maintains a list of vehicles that are recognized as "having readiness issues" . 

This Attachment D list exempts specific vehicles by make, model, and model year from meeting certain 

OBD testing parameters. Administrative agencies New Hampshire are restricted by state law (RSA 541-

A) from adopting rules by reference. Therefore, DMV has incorporated in Saf-C 3222.06 a list of vehicles 

exempted from rejection criteria that is consistent with the EPA's Attachment D list . Language to reflect 

this has been incorporated into the SIP revision . 

EPA Comment 6 : Page 16, Section 11 .1 : New Hampshire's I/M regulation does not include registration 

suspension (revoking a vehicle's registration) should a vehicle become non-compliant with "the State's 

emission or safety inspection." As stated in Section 11 .1, paragraph 2, #2, "If, after 30 days, the fine has 

not been paid. . ." Registration suspension is the ultimate consequence only if a motorist is delinquent 

with the fine issued. A motorist can pay the fine, and continue driving a registered vehicle that is not in 

compliance with the State's emission or safety inspection. 

Therefore, in order to more appropriately characterize NH's program, we recommend re-phrasing the first 

sentence in Section 11 .1 to read: 

"New Hampshire's sticker-based enforcement program incorporates some attributes of is 

essentiatly registration suspension, since the loss of registration (along with the suspension of the 

driver's license and the threat of arrest by way of bench warrant) ' may be a 

consequence of the noncompliance." 

DES Response 6 : DES has revised the language as suggested . 

EPA Comment 7 : Page 19, Section 13 .1 : EPA encourages NH to continue to explore the possibility of 

incorporating covert audits into the UM program. 

DES Response 7 : DES is consulting with DMV and the Legislative OBD Advisory Committee regarding 

incorporating covert audits in the NH UM program as part of the new vendors contract that would start in 

July 2012. Should such a program be incorporated, DES will submit a SIP revision to reflect this change . 

At this time, however, it is the position of D1VN and DES that the current triggers analysis is as, if not 

more, effective than a covert audit program utilizing vehicle set to fail . 

EPA Comment 8: Page 23, Section 21 .1 : EPA recommends NH re-evaluate current available options for 

remote sensing . Remote sensing practices would assist in identifying if there is a widespread issue of 

vehicles being operated out of compliance, and potentially only brought into compliance at the time of the 

vehicle's required inspection. Therefore, we disagree with the statement made in the second paragraph of 

this section . For example, Massachusettes' I/M program, which is an annual testing program, includes a 

remote sensing component that continues to prove effective . 

DES Response 8 : New Hampshire will continue to evaluate incorporation of a remote sensing in the 

state's I/M program in conjunction with the legislative OBD Advisory Committee . Should such a 

program be incorporated, DES will submit a SIP revision to reflect this change . 

Attachment X: Comments Received and DES Responses Regarding Draft SIP Posting 10