Hello-
Old Car Fans- Attached is a file from SEMA regarding Illinois
legislation that would encourage the scrapping of old cars by factories
in return for polution credits. Picture a tatty Mini or old Alfa being
crushed so some polluter can continue to belch smoke for a while longer.
Write your congressmen.
Ross Fosbender, PR Chmn, Midwestern Council of SCC
URGENT REGULATORY ALERT
IEPA on the Verge of Proposing Scrappage Regulation
The Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) has learned
that the
Illinois EPA will formally propose its scrappage program in the
immediate
future. We have an even more limited opportunity to make our opposition
known to government officials.
If you have not done so already, please contact your state legislators
in
order to generate pressure on the Illinois EPA to eliminate the
scrappage
program before it can begin. Remember. regulators do not run for
election
to office, but legislators do. The goal is to get as many legislators
as
possible to contact the Illinois EPA and demand that this program be
abandoned.
Time is Running Out. Contact Your State Legislators Immediately to
Oppose
This Regulation
We have prepared a sample letter for your use. We hope you will share
this
with fellow club members and other enthusiasts. This letter should
include
the following:
Your club’s letterhead or logo (if available).
A return address so legislators can determine you are a constituent.
A phone number so that your legislators can contact you.
If you need assistance in determining who your legislators are, please
contact the Illinois Legislature’s General Information line at
217-782-2000.
This information can also be obtained by calling the SEMA Washington,
D.C.
office at 202/783-6007 or you can access this information via the
Internet
at www.sema.org/fedleg/legislatorrequest.
Please fax a copy of your letters to us at 202/783-6024 or mail to:
SEMA Washington Office
1317 F St., N.W., Ste. 500
Washington, D.C. 20004
If there are any questions, please contact Steve McDonald or Brian
Caudill
at 202-783-6007 (brianc@sema.org, stevemac@sema.org). In addition, if
your
legislators have any concerns or would like to discuss this matter in
more
depth, please refer them to us.
Illinois General Assembly
State Capitol
Springfield, IL 62706
Dear _________________
A regulation has been drafted by the Illinois Environmental
Protection
Agency (IEPA) that would implement a motor vehicle scrappage program.
The
IEPA will file this plan formally with the Illinois Pollution Control
Board
in the near future. I am requesting your support in demanding that the
IEPA
abandon this ill-conceived effort.
Scrappage programs involve purchasing older cars, often classic
or
collectible cars, and crushing them into blocks of scrap metal. The
IEPA’s
draft regulation will allow “smokestack” industries to avoid reducing
their
own emissions by buying credits generated through destroying these cars.
Industrial polluters should not be allowed to continue polluting merely
because they are buying and scrapping vehicles.
Further, the draft fails to take into account that scrapped cars
typically
are second or third vehicles and are rarely driven in the first place.
Older cars - often restored, classic, or special-interest vehicles - are
infrequently used, generally well-maintained and not a good source of
emissions reductions. The regulation is based on the false perception
that
old cars are dirty cars. Even the U.S. EPA has acknowledged that many
old
cars are quite clean.
All scrappage programs threaten vehicle collectors and enthusiasts with
the
loss of valuable rare parts for vehicle restoration projects, etc. The
regulation also ignores the fact that lower income car owners cannot
afford
to purchase new vehicles with the money provided by scrappage programs.
These same people could lose a source of inexpensive repair parts
resulting
in the inability to drive their vehicles.
Finally, the regulation ignores the fact that scrapping vehicles is not
the
most cost-effective method to reduce emissions. Voluntarily upgrading
older
vehicles with newer emissions system technologies can be roughly twice
as
cost-effective as scrapping vehicles. Numerous commercially available
products can substantially lower the emissions rates of older “daily
driver”
vehicles while also offering considerable benefits in terms of
performance,
driveability and fuel mileage. An approach that allows for voluntary
repair
and upgrade would provide maximum pollution benefits without hurting car
enthusiasts and those who must rely on low-cost transportation.
Accordingly, I’m requesting that you contact IEPA Director Thomas V.
Skinner
(1021 North Grand Avenue East, PO Box 19276, Springfield, IL
62794-9276) to
voice your opposition to the scrappage proposal.
I would appreciate hearing from you on this matter. Thank you for your
consideration.
Sincerely,
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