Congress Holds Hearing on Car Air Pollution Control Defeat Devices
On September 7th, the Senate Environment and Public Works committee held hearings on legislation to reduce the EPA’s authority to regulate the sale and use of car air pollution defeat devices. Defeat devises are after-market products that can be purchased and installed to defeat car catalytic converters and other auto air pollution control technology.
These devices are often installed on cars used for auto racing but are illegal to use in street vehicles. The legislation, called the Recognizing the Protection of Motorsports Act (RPM Act) claims to ensure that defeat devices used for race cars would be exempt from EPA Clean Air Act regulations, but the text of the bill creates a much larger loophole that would likely allow the defeat device industry to build and install defeat devices for passenger vehicle use.
The ATS joined the American Lung Association and several other medical and public health groups in a letter to the Senate Environment and Public Works committee in expressing concern with the RPM Act and its attempt to undermine the EPA’s authority to prevent the use of defeat device technology in street vehicles.
