PORTLAND — Residents of Maine’s most populous county have yet to raise a real furor at being singled out for an auto emissions program. Maybe that’s because many don’t know about it.

But the ones who do are not happy.

“We’re the sacrificial lambs,” said Robert Peck of Portland. “I’m appalled that there’s been no real response to this thing. I would think the people of this county would be outraged by this.”

An unscientific survey by The Associated Press found many residents don’t know about the program, and many of those who do aren’t clear on details of the plan approved at the close of the legislative session.

The program calls for Cumberland County residents to pay $9.50, an increase of $3.50, for the annual auto inspection that will be expanded next year to check for leaky gas caps on cars built after 1973.

In the second phase, the cost increases to $12.50 in the year 2000 as mechanics check the computerized diagnostics on cars built after 1995. State law does not require the repairs for the onboard diagnostics to be made until 2001.

It’s a far cry from the tougher CarTest program in 1994-95 that required motorists to make a special trip to testing centers for an exhaust analysis. That program was repealed under public pressure.

“This is a pretty minimal program,” said Ron Severance of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

Most Cumberland County residents concede the new program is a minor inconvenience. They just don’t like being singled out while the rest of the state gets nothing more than a 50-cent increase on the standard inspection to help cover administrative costs.

“It’s the fairness issue,” said Terry McKenney, owner of McKenney’s Service Centers in South Portland.

The Legislature scrapped a proposal to extend the emissions program statewide. The final vote was 16-14 in the Senate, 72-56 in the House.

The King administration lobbied hard to keep the bill alive, warning that the state could lose as much as $100 million in federal highway funds if no program is put in place to reduce fuel emissions that mix with sunshine to form ground-level ozone, or smog.

Some believe the Cumberland County program was the minimum they could get away with because the federal Clean Air Act required some sort of program in metropolitan areas of more than 100,000 people.

Severance concedes there will not be a major environmental impact from checking gas caps. But the Environmental Protection Agency believes there will be a major reduction in emissions in the second phase, he said.

Lawmakers believe the program can serve as a pilot program for the rest of the state, he said.