Air Quality State Implementation Plans; Approvals and Promulgations: North Carolina; Removal of the State's Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance Program

The Natural Resources Defense Council opposes the EPA's proposal to approve North Carolina's State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision that removes 19 counties from the vehicle inspection and maintenance program. They argue that the EPA is failing to comply with the Clean Air Act's anti-backsliding provision because the proposal relies on emission reductions from federal mobile source regulations that the EPA has since repealed.

The Main Street Foundation’s Center for Regulatory Analysis and Engagement (CRAE) supports the EPA's proposed approval of North Carolina's SIP revision to remove the state's vehicle inspection and maintenance program. They argue that technological advancements and improved air quality have rendered the original justifications for the program obsolete, and that periodic reassessment of legacy regulations is necessary to ensure they remain proportional to current benefits and burdens.

Brandon Gibbs, a resident of North Carolina, urges the committee to keep the state's vehicle emissions standards program. He argues that these standards are necessary to reduce pollution and protect public health in a rapidly growing state with insufficient public transportation.