Groups step up opposition to EPA race car reg (Update)

WASHINGTON (April 5, 2016) — Industry and political opposition is rising to a proposed change in Clean Air Act regulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that could forbid the conversion of street vehicles into race cars.

Harley-Davidson Motor Co. joined eight tire, automotive aftermarket and motorcycle industry associations April 1 in sending a letter to the EPA, protesting the agency's action as unfair to the car and motorcycle racing industry.

The same day, attorneys general from seven states sent a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, calling on the agency to remove the provision from its 629-page proposed rule to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve fuel efficiency in medium- and heavy-duty engines and vehicles.

The section in the proposed rule involving street vehicles states: “Certified motor vehicles and motor vehicle engines and their emissions control devices must remain in their certified configuration even if they are used solely for competition or if they become non-road vehicles or engines.”

The letter from the aftermarket industry emphasized that the Clean Air Act has exempted race cars and motorcycles — including those created from street vehicles — for more than 45 years. The existence of more than 1,300 race tracks in the U.S., most of them for modified street vehicles, is predicated on that understanding, they said.

“The EPA has threatened to make illegal activities that have taken place for decades and accounted for billions of dollars of economic activity,” the letter said.

“This unannounced and unilateral action is being taken without regard to the decades-long understanding of the application of the law to street vehicles modified for exclusive use at the track or as much as a single economic analysis,” it said.

Besides Harley-Davidson, signatories of the letter include the Specialty Market Equipment Association (SEMA), Tire Industry Association (TIA), Auto Care Association (ACA), American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC), Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association (MEMA), National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) and National Independent Automobile Dealers Association (NIADA).

The letter from the attorneys general presented many of the same arguments as the industry letter.

“As proposed, this rule attempts to expand the USEPA's statutory jurisdiction under the Clean Air Act to modify vehicles modified solely for racing or competition,” said the letter from the attorneys general.

“This approach is contrary to law and would reverse decades of practice by the USEPA,” it said. “This unnecessary regulation conflicts with the expressed intent of Congress, and we urge you to remedy this problem in the final rule by deleting the provision.”

SEMA is leading the fight against the provision, urging its members to write their federal legislators in support of the Recognizing the Protection of Motorsports (RPM) Act. That bill that confirms the legality of converting street vehicles into vehicles intended solely for the racetrack.

SEMA has created a model letter supporting the RPM Act for its members to sign and send. It can be found on the trade group's website.

The attorneys general who signed the letter were Mike DeWine (Ohio), Patrick Morrissey (West Virginia), Leslie Rutledge (Arkansas), Luther Strange (Alabama), Jeff Landry (Louisiana), Bill Schuette (Michigan) and Sam Olens (Georgia).

____________________________________

To reach this reporter: [email protected]