Our view: Emissions tests

We weren't meeting federal air quality standards for carbon monoxide. On cold, windless days Anchorage traffic was toxic with CO in some parts of town.

I/M testing changed that. Vehicles had to pass an emissions test before Anchorage residents could register or renew registration and legally drive them. Those that didn't had to be repaired so that they did. Thus drivers had to maintain their vehicles in good running shape. That cleared the air. Rush-hour exhaust is no healthier, but Anchorage has not violated air quality standards for CO since 1996.

Emissions testing was not the only driver, however. Technology has transformed vehicles in the last 25 years. We haven't abandoned the internal combustion engine yet, but with computer and pollution controls, we're driving vehicles that are far more efficient and far less polluting. And hybrid vehicles that pollute even less are increasingly popular.

We've already dialed back requirements for I/M testing. In 2008, when a new Assembly reversed a decision to scrap the program, newer cars didn't have to be tested until they were 4 years old. Beginning this year, vehicles don't have to be tested until they are 6 years old. So that 2006 rig isn't due until 2012.

Mayor Dan Sullivan intends to ask the Assembly to vote to cut the I/M program entirely with an ordinance he'll introduce April 13. Public comments will begin April 27.

Provided there's no compelling testimony to the contrary, the Assembly should vote to cut the program.

Even if the Assembly does so, that won't end I/M tests immediately. The federal Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Environmental Conservation must agree that the city can opt out of the program.

That could take more than a year, during which time the program would continue.

That would give businesses that provide the tests and related repairs time to plan for the loss of revenue, which runs Anchorage vehicle owners about $9 million a year.

No matter how the Assembly votes, the city should continue its air quality monitoring program because we still record some of the highest CO levels among U.S. cities and still approach the upper limits of particulate pollution.

Our air isn't pristine, but continuing technological advances will do more to clean it than continuing the I/M program.

Anchorage has eased I/M requirements to reflect changing reality on the road and in the air. The program has served its purpose. The next logical step is to end it.

BOTTOM LINE: It's time to end I/M testing.