Tailpipe Emissions in California

[fintstone]

Did you CA guys see this?

Sensors, cameras to record tailpipe emissions in California

The Associated Press

Posted: Sunday August 14th, 2005, 2:35 AM
Last Updated: Sunday August 14th, 2005, 2:35 AM

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Sensors and video cameras on Southern California freeways could begin recording pollutants spewing from tailpipes by early next year as part of a program to reduce smog levels in the nation's smoggiest region.

The program, perhaps the largest of its kind, would measure vehicles entering freeways in the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside.

The sensors measure pollutants as vehicles accelerate and the cameras snap an image of the license plates.

There's even an incentive to getting caught.

Owners of smoky clunkers would receive letters informing them that the government would help pay to fix or scrap the vehicles. Between 10,000 to 20,000 of the dirtiest vehicles would be spotted, according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

"You can't meet our air quality goals without addressing this problem," said Victor Weisser, chairman of California's Inspection and Maintenance Review Committee, which oversees a separate program that requires vehicles to be smog-checked.

"We have made great strides with cleaner gasoline and new engines, but you can't make bigger reductions until you get some of these cars off the road," he added. "And unless we do something, these cars from the 1980s are going to be on the road a long time."

The state's smog-check program tests about 10 million vehicles every year, keeping some of the dirtiest off the road. Still, officials say the program has a loophole - vehicles built before 1976 and those newer than six years old are exempt from the checks.

Air regulators say using sensors and cameras would encourage more people to send their vehicles to the junk yard - by far cheaper at cleaning the region's air than imposing additional controls on power plants and refineries.

Air regulators, who fear violators would avoid the sensors, wouldn't disclose how many sensors will be used or where they will be placed.

State regulators approved using sensors in October 2003 and called for the program to be in place by the 2010 federal deadline.

http://www.latimes.com

[jyl]

Would the sensors be accurate enough to distinguish between, say, a Carrera w/ cat and a Carrera w/ SSIs? Or would they only be able to identify a gross smoky polluter? It seems hard to imagine a sensor could be all that accurate at reading tailpipe emissions from a car 4 or 5 feet away in the midst of the soup that is LA air.

[mikester]

It does seem pretty stupid to me and I live in LA. I saw this article in the times over the weekend and the Air Quality board was touting how they would "Catch the gross polluters and those desiel beltching trucks" or some nonsense like that. They also stated that offenders would get letters in the mail where the govt offered to help them with the cost of repairs or incentive them to scrap the cars. That it was easier to go after the gross polluters than it was to clean up a single energy plant.

Well; That just sounds stupid to me. It's easier to concentrate on one spot than it is to concentrate on a million little ones. It's also noteable to say that the worst offenders in CA as whole aren't cars - it's cows.

Also; the worst offenders on LA highways aren't individual's cars but frieght trucks in and out of the port of long beach and LA. They are the worst but going after them would put undo hardship on "the economy." This is smoke and mirrors quite literally.

Damn...I think I'm on fint's side...

[artplumber]

Doubt Orwell thought about this when he wrote 1984.

But it's true, just go to CARB or the Smog section of CA DMV.

[singpilot]

I have actually seen this rig. Is a late 80's Dodge van innocently parked on the side of the onramp.

I was in the Prius (with Nevada plates) so the only thing I could think to do was flip them off.

I did.