Events Calendar
In This Section
Most Read Stories
Police accuse bank robbery suspect of gobbling up note (with dashcam video)
Victim of beating in Kent last week is declared dead at Akron hospital
Akron man killed in crash on his street
Browns find another way to lose
Can DNA tests free ex-Akron captain?
After 30 years at the helm of Akron Children's, Considine still looks to future
Akron Circle K store robbed for second time this month
Dad accused of forcing son into field, killing him
Man found dead in North Akron home is identified
Blogs:
Pets:
Cat-loving chihuahua suckles seven abandoned kittens
The Heldenfiles:
Sunday Notebook
Patrick McManamon:
Browns sick after sick loss in Detroit
Akron Zips:
No. 1 Akron to play Stanford next
Tribe Matters:
Seven players added to Tribe’s 40-man roster
Cleveland Browns:
Post-game defensive quotes
Kent State Sports:
Kent State defeats Rochester College, 63-44
Cleveland Cavaliers:
Gameblog: Cavs vs. Philadelphia 76ers
Buckeye Blogging:
OSU – Michigan college football rivals meet in Baghdad
Varsity Letters:
Four area football teams play tonight
All Da King's Men:
The Onion, By Any Other Name…
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Will Health Care Reform Pass?
Akron Law Café:
Health Care Financing Reform: (70) Savings in Medicare Advantage
See Jane Style:
Vintage Chic
Car Chase:
TIME TO GET YOUR COLLECTOR CARS WINTERIZED
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Faye Dunaway to be Evicted?
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Monique asks how to get tickets for the Polar Express.
Sound Check:
Steely Dan Plays "The Royal Scam" at E.J. Thomas Hall
HRLite House:
Personal Rant – You are All Wrong About Jobs, or the Lack of Jobs, Being the Reason People Do Not Live in NEO
Akron Gamer:
Nintendo's Mario endures even as games come and go
Strickland says testing in seven counties critical for compliance with EPA
By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Saturday, Dec 29, 2007
Ohio's E-Check testing program, the subject of much hate from motorists, got a six-month reprieve on Friday.
Gov. Ted Strickland signed a four-page executive order that extends the testing program in seven counties in Northeast Ohio through June 30.
Affected are 1.4 million motorists in Summit, Portage, Medina, Cuyahoga, Lake, Lorain and Geauga counties.
The order also gives EPA Director Chris Korleski authority to extend to June 30 the state's contract with Envirotest Systems Corp., the Connecticut-based company that conducts the every-other-year tests that began in late 1995.
Please see E-Check, B4
Continued from Page B1
The program had been scheduled to expire on Tuesday.
Korleski is expected to sign the extension on Monday, said EPA spokeswoman Melissa Fazekas.
By July 1, the EPA will be required to seek bids for a new auto-exhaust testing contract. Strickland is expected to sign a new executive order that will then extend E-Check through June 30, 2009.
The state will continue to pay for the tests, not motorists, Fazekas said.
Strickland's action came as no surprise. Earlier this month, the Ohio Senate approved legislation giving Strickland authority to keep E-Check and to extend the contract.
Strickland said E-Check is ''a critical component'' of Ohio's continuing efforts to comply with provisions of the federal Clean Air Act.
The tests are required for areas under federal orders to clean the air and cannot be eliminated unless there are comparable reductions in other sources of pollution.
Strickland said that without E-Check, Ohio manufacturers could face a bigger portion of the burden for cleaning the air.
The action ''will allow the state to avoid being subject to federal sanctions and stagnant business growth as a result of its failure to comply'' with federal ozone limits, he said.
Last June, Strickland vetoed language in the two-year budget that could have curtailed the scope of E-Check testing. Ohio needs to test vehicles through either a tailpipe test or an on-board computer test, and both programs are needed, Strickland said.
E-Check previously was required in four counties around Cincinnati and three around Dayton, but that requirement has been lifted.
The seven Northeast Ohio counties plus Ashtabula County fail to meet tighter federal limits for ozone. The U.S. EPA considers the eight counties to be a single ozone region, and a high reading in one county affects all eight.
Ozone is formed when hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide emissions from vehicles, power plants and industry mix in hot, sunny conditions. It can cause breathing problems for the elderly, children and asthmatics.
Northeast Ohio must have satisfactory ozone readings by the end of 2009 or face new sanctions.
The state is in the process of devising a new compliance plan.
One possibility would be to require the sale of cleaner-burning but more expensive gasoline, said EPA spokeswoman Heidi Griesmer.
If that's not enough, many of the heavily populated counties of Northeast Ohio — including Summit, Stark, Medina, Portage and Cuyahoga — are struggling with soot.
Unless the affected counties comply with federal limits, there could be additional sanctions.
Microscopic soot is considered a major health threat because people breath it deep into their lungs. It can hurt the elderly, children and people with heart-lung problems.
The major sources of soot, which unlike ozone occurs year-round, are coal-burning power plants, smokestack industries and diesel- and gasoline-powered vehicles.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
Ohio's E-Check testing program, the subject of much hate from motorists, got a six-month reprieve on Friday.
Get the full article here.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
