September 23, 2002

NATIONAL NEWS

EPA Rule on Off-road Vehicle Pollution Mislabeled a "Compromise"

On September 13, 2002, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule that sets air pollution standards for dirt bikes, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and snowmobiles. As details emerged this week, it is increasingly clear that the rule is even weaker than anticipated. It fails to take a forward-looking approach to technology, backslides on pollution from ATVs, and misses an opportunity to harness market forces to encourage greater pollution reductions.

The final rule includes a number of serious flaws:
· It postpones even the modest air pollution reductions for snowmobiles by two years - until 2012 rather than 2010 as proposed;
· It fails to require the greatest pollution reductions achievable with technology that will be available as required by the Clean Air Act; and
· The Los Angeles Times reports that it backslides on ATV standards by allowing new ATVs to produce "50 percent more pollution under the final rule" than proposed only a year ago.

Some have described this rule as a "compromise." The fact is, however, that this rule was compromised a year ago in the form of an extremely weak proposal. The final only backslides further. And it does so because the EPA caved to pressure from the off-road vehicle industry, especially snowmobile makers, and the White House.

Others have suggested that this action will produce an "angry response" from the manufacturers. The silence has been deafening. Why? Industry succeeded in watering down, postponing and eliminating pollution reductions. The rule does not require industry to do much - it is already producing vehicles that reduce pollution by as much as EPA would require a decade from now.

Finally, "compliance" with the requirements today is not remarkable. In fact, it calls the rule into question. The Clean Air Act requires EPA to set emission standards that will achieve the greatest reductions possible with technology that "will be available." (emphasis added) This is designed to utilize innovation to cut pollution more than what could be achieved by only applying technology that is available on the date a rule is issued.

EPA has failed to take this forward-looking approach. Production line snowmobiles today equipped with four-stroke engines cut hydrocarbon pollution by as much as EPA would require in 2012. According to EPA, 80 percent of ATVs and more than half of all dirt bikes in use already have four-stroke engines. The final rule allows the off-road vehicle industry to coast along with static technology for years to come rather than establish emission standards that would promote greater innovation, and more significantly cut harmful air pollution.

What's Been Said:
"Responding to pressure from the White House and from manufacturers, the Environmental Protection Agency will give snowmobile makers more time to reduce pollution under federal regulations released Friday"

- Los Angeles Times Article, September 14, 2002

REGIONAL NEWS

BLM Proposal Could Allow Rampant Off-Road Vehicle Use. Congress Reacts.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is considering policy changes that would delay critical on-the-ground planning for off-road vehicles on public lands. The mapping of specific routes in the land management process is essential in order to provide protections from off-road vehicle abuse. Without these route designations, off-road vehicles will continue to drive cross country, leave scars, pollute streams, harass wildlife, and cause conflicts with other users.

Members of Congress recently expressed concern in a letter to Director Kathleen Clarke. U.S. Representative Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and 10 members of the House Appropriations Committee stated that this proposed change would "reduce agency accountability, increase inconsistency amongst BLM management units, and ignore the justifiable claims of many Americans that the BLM plays a 'shell game' whereby pressing management decisions are constantly deferred to the future."

Congress has already given the BLM $58 million dollars in the last two years specifically to fund comprehensive resource management planning that includes off-road vehicle route/road designation. The Members expressed their disappointment with the possibility that the money they appropriated was not going to "address the very shortcomings in land use plans for which the funding was provided."

Read the letter from Congress: http://www.house.gov/hinchey/
Read the press release and factsheet visit: http://www.naturaltrails.org/pressroom/releases/2002/09_19_02.html

For More Information Contact:
Alix Rauschman, Communications Specialist
(202) 429-2672 phone
(202) 549-2860 cell
alix_rauschman@tws.org
www.naturaltrails.org

The Natural Trails and Waters Coalition includes conservation, recreation, hunting and other groups working to protect and restore all public lands and waters from the severe damage caused by snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles, dirt bikes, jet skis and all other off-road vehicles.