After starting a petition to stop vehicle emissions testing, I received several comments about my petition being wrong. I have taken it upon myself to do research about these comments and this is what I found.

First, I want to make it clear that I am in total support of the EPA, TDEC, and APCB in saving our environment. I am not against research and testing of any kind, if it helps and does not hurt people in the process. I do believe there should be proof that their testing is effective. After exploring the internet and speaking with 12 different people through email and phone calls from EPA, TDEC, and APCB, I finally got some answers to comments people are making.
Several people commented that emissions testing should not be stopped because it has helped our environment. My question is, where is the proof? After speaking with those 12 individuals, I was finally told that there is no written proof. This testing alone can not be measured. Emission testing is just one part of many programs set up to reduce pollution. EPA has guidelines that Tennessee must meet to be considered “attainable”. Because of several different programs used to meet those standards, Tennessee has reached the attainable standard. There is no proof emissions testing has been effective in this attainability program. 

Asthma: According to http://www.aafa.org, no one really knows the causes of asthma. There are more than 20 different things that can trigger an Asthma attack. Is emissions testing crucial in reducing these triggers? No, the testing is one of many programs used to help in pollution and there is no proof it has helped at all.

The Money: This is where your $10 is going. $.25 goes to Hamilton County Clerk for extra costs associated with registration, $1.80 to TDEC for overseeing and auditing the contractor, and $7.95 to Envirotest (State contractor in Nashville / Corporate Headquarters in CT) to cover operating expenses, salaries, debt retirement on approximately $6 million local building costs, and profit. In 2010,  272,411 vehicles were tested. That means in 2010 Hamilton County received $68,102.75, TDEC received $490,339.80, and Envirotest received $2,165,667.45 according to the figures they gave me.

There were a few statements during this research, I found to be very interesting yet hurtful. I was told emissions testing will end when we get all the old polluting cars off the road. This statement is proof that this testing is and will continue to hurt people. If you can’t afford to buy a newer vehicle, you will have to continue to sink money in your older vehicle to get it up to their standards. I was also told I should be taking this up with the manufacturer who established the standards for the testing and not the testing itself, but the testing is the reason people are having to spend money for unnecessary repairs. I say get rid of the required testing, and we have no more unnecessary repairs and no one telling us we can’t drive a vehicle we paid thousands for.

A little common sense will tell you if we are the only county in this area with this testing and people from all over Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama, (who do not have this testing) drive through here daily and we sell our cars to them to drive through here daily, there is no way this testing has or will ever help our environment.

Could emissions testing be stopped? Yes. Will stopping emissions testing hurt our environment? No. It is just one little part of several programs used to make Hamilton County an attainable area and there is absolutely no written proof or way to measure results of it to show that it has helped in any way. There are however hundreds of stories showing that emissions testing has hurt people and will continue doing so if it is not stopped. Please sign my petition!
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/stop-emission-testing-in-tn/ Thank you,

Eva Milligan

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The original reason we started having testing was so we would not lose funds due to clean air restrictions. We were going to lose money, so the solution, sack the citizens.  If we pay then it doesn't matter if the air is clean or not. It is more "new age" environmental religion thrust on us all.

This is the same city that has been recognized nationally for cleaning up our town, and running off all the industry. I remember the smog that made it impossible to see across town coming through the ridge cut, now we have a clean city and they still carp about it as though we were still the "Dynamo of Dixie". 

The only solution is to re-route I-24 and I-75 around the city and not right through the middle of it. It is a joke to think making us pay will help when thousands of trucks and passenger vehicles come through every hour.

Keith Roberts