Guys, there’s a range war brewing. In the Winter ‘95 issue of RR, we printed a flier from an anonymous party regarding the effects of a bill called SCS1700 in New Jersey. We immediately got a call from the Clean Air Office in New Jersey informing us that the article was full of misinformation.

Because we want to be fair, we asked the Clean Air Office to send us information explaining their side of the argument. We received a copy of a brochure and letter that New Jersey issued in response to the “anonymous” flier. We then asked the author of the flier for a reply to the letter from New Jersey’s Dick Kamin regarding the flier’s allegations. We expected a quick reply but instead ended up with a 52-page report that went through all the allegations in the original flier. When we received this report, we immediately called New Jersey to see if they wanted to send any additional information. We were told that the brochure and letter hit all of the important facts.

Because there was just too much information for the 2 pages allotted in the Spring ‘96 RR, the best way to present the material was in a “point-counterpoint” format. We asked the author of the flier to take the letter from Dick Kamin and respond to each point. We also put together a 136-page package with all of the information provided by both sides to date so you could be totally informed. (This is available as part number NJCLUNK for $2.95.)

Wait there’s more! After the Spring ‘96 RR came out, we were talking with a Clean Air Office official who informed us we didn’t report all the facts correctly and the “anonymous” author got more space than New Jersey did. We have again asked that New Jersey send us any additional information on the subject so that we may include it in our full report. Tune in for the continuing saga since there will obviously be more to come. In the meantime, here’s the bottom line.

Because of space limitations, we can’t print everything available. If you’re interested in getting both sides of the story, please order part number NJCLUNK for $2.95 (which covers postage fees). You can also order part number NJ1 which will get you our clunker video, “The Sky is Falling”, along with the 136-page report, for $9.95. We normally make it a point not to advertise Year One products in the RR, but this is such an important issue we felt we should make an exception in this case. It looks as though there will be a Round IV in this “fight”, so look here for future developments.

In the meantime, New Jersey governor Christie Whitman announced plans on March 27 to modify the existing enhanced motor vehicle inspection program in accordance with recent flexibilities in the federal law. Under the modified program, New Jersey will implement a 12 month voluntary demonstration program prior to the official beginning of the I/M (inspection/maintenance) program, which is slated to take place statewide by 1998. The tailpipe emission tests will be administered to vehicles while they run at a steady speed on a dynamometer instead of measuring tailpipe emissions while vehicles are idling (the current method). Some of the highlights of other modifications to SCS1700 being proposed are as follows:
Encouraging voluntary participation in the demonstration program.
Automobile owners will be able to have their cars inspected at either a state-run facility or a privately-owned station regardless of vehicle age.
Simplifying the emissions test for 1980-and-older vehicles. Cars in this category will not be required to take the enhanced emissions test, but rather will continue to be subject to the existing idle test (1968-and-older vehicles would have been subject to the idle test under the previous proposal).
Collector vehicle exemption will be tied to the insurance policy of the owner which may permit the owner to drive the vehicle 3,000 miles per year (as compared to 2,000 miles under the previous proposal).

Two bills are currently pending in New Jersey to repeal the “enhanced emissions law”. These are state bills S-152 and A-652.

What is the point of all this? Did you know there has been more publicity surrounding the future of old cars and the effects of this bill than ever before? An article written by Eric Peters entitled “Coming Soon: A Plan to Confiscate Your Car” even appeared in the May 9 edition of the Wall Street Journal. This article (which has been added to our NJCLUNK report) informs the readers about what is happening in New Jersey and may be coming to your state in the near future.

You owe it to yourself and to your hobby to stay informed about all of this. As more developments occur, you can rest assured we will pass them along. But in the meantime, spread the word and let’s keep our cars safe!

In other news . . .

We recently came across a postcard being passed around at a local car club meeting. This postcard is seeking support for a newly introduced bill (HR 479) striving to repeal the Clean Air Act of 1990, and the short-sighted legislation it contains. The card was directed to Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, asking for his support of house bill HR 479. We’ve reproduced the text of the postcard below, and have included the Speaker’s Washington mailing address. We strongly encourage you to read the following, and do with it as you see fit.

Send to: Hon. Newt Gingrich
2428 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515



Dear Mr. Gingrich,

I am upset by the federal government’s attempts to control all aspects of our lives. One particularly onerous law is the 1990 Clean Air Act. It is not the Federal government’s place to be establishing local requirements, or to be mandating local or state laws. The 1990 Clean Air Act must go.

I want you to move to put a stop to this Federal power grab. A bill has been introduced to repeal the 1990 Clean Air Act. I want you to support HR 479. I want you to bring the full power of the Speaker’s Office to bear to move this bill out of committee and pass it on the House floor. Any other action will be seen as a complete abandonment of the principles that you have espoused before.

Sincerely,