The Environmental Protection Agency is opening up a public discussion on a contentious proposed rule banning race cars, after weeks of heated rhetoric hurled at the agency by the industry and GOP presidential candidate Marco Rubio.
The EPA will open up changes it made recently to its greenhouse gas rules for cars to a month-long comment period. The rule change would ban cars that are modified for speedway and dirt track racing, which makes up billions of dollars in sales from specialty parts manufacturers. Hundreds of speedway racing tracks dot the countryside.
Rubio jumped on the issue ahead of the South Carolina primary, expressing outrage at EPA and Obama administration overreach.
“The EPA maintains this is merely a ‘clarification’ of its existing rules, not a new rule, but hobbyists are worried their cars are now technically illegal,” Rubio’s campaign said. “Of course, the rule could never make any dent in air pollution, but it could get in the way of you or your neighbor’s hobby.”
“For the sake of America and American jobs — and racing fans everywhere — we need a president who will stand up to the EPA and rein in out-of control-government regulation,” the Rubio campaign added.
Rubio stands with the Specialty Equipment Market Association, which was first out of the gate to oppose the race car change in formal comments to the agency. The group started a White House petition to get Obama to role back the EPA overreach and is now lobbying Congress for a permanent fix.
As of Tuesday, few people noticed that the EPA was preparing to take 30 days to hear public comments on the group’s concerns, which could result in the agency dialing back the change. The notice was made available for pre-publication review by the Federal Register on Tuesday. The notice will be published Wednesday.
“EPA is soliciting additional comments on issues discussed in a late comment related to light-duty motor vehicles used for racing,” EPA says in the pre-publication notice.
The publication notice kicks off a month-long process of receiving comments on the change, and the specialty manufacturers’ views on how the “proposed amendment related to the Clean Air Act’s prohibition of tampering of emission controls would impact light-duty vehicles used for racing and raises questions about whether adequate notice was given for this proposed amendment.”
But it is not clear why the EPA will include the notice at the bottom of a much larger Federal Register item alerting the trucking industry of new data on its phase 2 emission and fuel efficiency standards for big rig trucks.
EPA spokeswoman Laura Allen didn’t address the race car issue directly. “The items we are requesting comment on are listed in the [notice of data availability, or NODA]. There will be a 30-day public comment period after the NODA’s publication in the Federal Register. The agencies will provide written responses to comments received in the final rulemaking,” she said.
The specialty parts group says it isn’t waiting, even though it said last week that it heard the EPA might be taking up their concerns.
“Despite recent indications that the EPA is considering a new rule making to request additional public comment on its proposed race car rule, it is now clear that an amendment to the Clean Air Act will effectively end any debate over the exemption of motor vehicles converted for competition use,” said Specialty Equipment Market Association President and CEO Chris Kersting on Thursday.
His group is now lobbying for a congressional fix.
The group “views congressional action as a decisive step to settle this issue once and for all,” he said. “The EPA is attempting to write a new interpretation into the regulations. The racing community and parts makers need the certainty that legislation will provide.”
