Yahoo Autos EPA Abandons Proposal to Ban Converting Street Cars for Racing
Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it would drop a proposal that critics said would outlaw modifying production vehicles for off-highway competition, Automotive News reports. The proposed rule was buried inside a giant, 629-page proposal submitted in June of 2015, but was made public by the Specialty Equipment Manufacturer's Association in February of this year, causing widespread backlash in motorsports circles.
"The proposed language in the July 2015 proposal was never intended to represent any change in the law or in EPA's policies or practices towards dedicated competition vehicles," the EPA said in a statement today. "Since our attempt to clarify led to confusion, EPA has decided to eliminate the proposed language from the final rule."
The true purpose of the now-abandoned proposal is still unclear. Back in February, an EPA spokesperson told Road & Track that the proposed change sought to clarify the language of existing law, not to create new legislation or extend the EPA's reach to previously-unregulated areas of the auto industry.
As the EPA told us, "the Clean Air Act has–since its inception–specifically prohibited tampering with or defeating the emission control systems on those vehicles.The proposed regulation that SEMA has commented on does not change this long-standing law, or approach."
