Auto emissions program faces suspension today> Governor schedules clean air session March 15-17 at Augusta Civic Center

AUGUSTA — Maine’s widely condemned auto emissions-reduction program faces suspension Tuesday when lawmakers convene to debate the issue only one day before the tests are scheduled to become mandatory again.

Gov. Angus S. King said Monday that seven of the state’s southern counties would have to reinstitute the $24 tests Wednesday should the 117th Legislature fail to pass his bill permitting voluntary compliance with the program for another two months.

Using the time to explore the state’s options, the governor plans to hold a Clean Air Stockholders Conference March 15-17 at the Augusta Civic Center.

“It is vital to both our economy and our environment that we reach a consensus on how to comply with current federal regulations and reduce our emissions,” King said. “I am inviting stakeholders from business, environmental groups, government and the public to join together with a sense of shared commitment to the state in an effort to forge and implement a sensible plan to do just that.”

Last week, King’s legislative efforts to suspend the program became bogged down in the Senate after an amendment was tacked onto the bill calling for the program’s repeal. The House, which already had approved the governor’s proposal, ruled the amendment out of order and the Senate ultimately concurred.

King is counting on better luck today and predicted the Legislature would pass the suspension bill, despite an outcry from angry constituents who want the program terminated.

“I haven’t counted noses, and I know enough to know that you never count until they’re done, but I believe the votes will be there to pass the extension (of the suspension),” he said. “If they don’t vote it through, then everybody has to start having their cars tested the next day. I don’t think anybody wants that result. I’m sure (the Legislature) will do the right thing.”

Maine is under the gun to comply with provisions of the 1990 Clean Air Act requiring the state to submit a plan to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency detailing how it will reduce its volatile organic compound emissions by 15 percent.

The federal agency has targeted the new standards for those areas of the state classified as being in “moderate non-attainment” with the health standard for ground-level ozone.

In an effort to reach 30 percent of the 15 percent reduction goal, Maine implemented a mandatory auto emission test program last summer by contracting with Systems Control Inc. The California-based company owns seven car test centers operating in as many counties and claims to have invested $15 million in the state.

A public outcry against the costs of Systems Control’s required repairs and complaints of poor service resulted in the Legislature’s decision last fall to make the program voluntary pending further study.

Critics of the tests claim the EPA seems to be continually changing its pollution goals for the state. Earlier this month, the EPA announced it might only require the program to be instituted in York, Cumberland and Sagadahoc counties — an area that includes a third of the state’s population and almost 40 percent of its registered passenger cars and trucks.

King has been trying to work with the Maine congressional delegation to pursue a course of action allowing the state to opt out of the 15 percent requirement. Like governors in Massachusetts and Texas, King believes that Maine shouldn’t be held to the Clean Air Act standard “because the principle cause of our ozone problem comes from out of state.”

Repealing the program, however, would prompt a lawsuit from Systems Control Inc. that could cost the state millions. Such a decision also could draw fire from the EPA that could retaliate by imposing sanctions costing the state as much as $100 million in federal highway funds for failing to comply with the Clean Air Act.

“It’s one (decision) that I want to be sure that we act in such a way that we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot,” King said.

Instead, the governor wants to suspend the program and use the grace period to negotiate with Systems Control Inc. to find a way to help the company realize some value from its investment.

King speculated Monday the firm might be interested in doing vehicle inspections in Maine or a wider variety of auto repairs.

He also wants greater clarification from the EPA in an effort to determine what the state can do besides emission tests to measure the effectiveness of a vehicle’s exhaust system.

“My goal is to not have the program at all,” King said. “We already have not handled this as well as it could have been for the last year or so, and I don’t want to compound the error.”