Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Vermont DEC tells House Transportation committee EPA approval, modeling required before inspection frequency could shift to every other year
Summary
DEC staff told the House Transportation Committee that moving Vermont’s vehicle emissions inspections from annual to biennial would require technical modeling to show federal performance standards remain met and would need an amendment to the state implementation plan and EPA approval; DEC staff also noted EPA-identified enforcement deficiencies with the state program and presented data showing failure rates fell from about 16% in 2017 to 4% in 2025.
The Vermont House Transportation Committee heard detailed testimony April 20 from Department of Environmental Conservation staff who said changes to the state’s vehicle emissions inspection frequency would require technical analysis and federal review before any policy change could take effect.
Deirdre Ritzer, Mobile Sources section chief at the DEC’s Air Quality and Climate Division, and Rachel Stevens, the division’s attorney, told the committee that federal rules assume annual testing unless a state demonstrates—through modeling—that a less frequent schedule would still meet required emissions performance standards. "If the performance standard can be met by moving to every other year, then the agency would need to amend its state implementation plan and seek approval from the U.S. EPA," Stevens said.
Why it matters: inspectors’ test…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
