What's All The Fuss About The EPA 'Banning' Modifications For Racing Cars?

If you spent any time browsing CT last night, you’ll have seen ‘EPA’ and ‘banning’ crop up quite a bit. So what is it that the USA’s Environmental Protection Agency has done that’s caused such a stir? It’s all to do with a proposed regulation catchily titled as the ‘Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Fuel Efficiency Standards for Medium- and Heavy-Duty Engines and Vehicles - Phase 2’. The offending part of the regulation is as follows: “the Clean Air Act does not allow any person to disable, remove, or render inoperative (i.e., tamper with) emission controls on a certified motor vehicle for purposes of competition.”

Pretty worrying, no? Particularly given how common it is to remove catalytic converters, change maps and perform numerous other emissions-effecting modifications on competition cars. And yes, this applies to cars which are used solely away from the public highway.

Naturally, this caught the attention of the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA), whose president and CEO Chris Kersting, said:

“This proposed regulation represents overreaching by the agency, runs contrary to the law and defies decades of racing activity where EPA has acknowledged and allowed conversion of vehicles…Congress did not intend the original Clean Air Act to extend to vehicles modified for racing and has re-enforced that intent on more than one occasion.”

In a press release, SEMA said that it has met with the EPA to discuss the proposal. “The EPA indicated that the regulation would prohibit conversion of vehicles into racecars and make the sale of certain emissions-related parts for use on converted vehicles illegal,” the organisation stated.

The EPA intends to publish final regulations by July 2016, but many could be breaking the law already. After seeking clarification on the organisation’s proposals, Autoblog was sent the following statement from the EPA:

“People may use EPA-certified motor vehicles for competition, but to protect public health from air pollution, the Clean Air Act has – since its inception – specifically prohibited tampering with or defeating the emission control systems on those vehicles.

The proposed regulation that SEMA has commented on does not change this long-standing law, or approach. Instead, the proposed language in the Heavy-Duty Greenhouse Gas rulemaking simply clarifies the distinction between motor vehicles and nonroad vehicles such as dirt bikes and snowmobiles.”

According to Autoblog, those falling foul of these tampering rules could be liable for a civil penalty of up to $37,500 “for each engine or piece of equipment in violation.” Whether or not the EPA will take the time to enforce such penalties is unclear.

We’ll be following this story with interest as it unfolds. In the meantime, discuss the news with the CT community: ‘EPA’ is trending