Air Plan Approval; Rhode Island; Amendments to Motor Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance Program

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY <CFR>40 CFR Part 52</CFR> <DEPDOC>[EPA-R01-OAR-2025-0249; FRL-12888-01-R1]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Air Plan Approval; Rhode Island; Amendments to Motor Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance Program</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Proposed rule. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Office of Air Resources on December 20, 2023, that includes an amended regulation for the Enhanced Motor Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance (I/M) program in Rhode Island. Overall, the submittal removes obsolete references, adds definitions, and clarifies the Rhode Island I/M program requirements, which consist primarily of conducting Onboard Diagnostics (OBD) testing. The intended effect of this action is to propose approval of the State's amended I/M program regulation into the Rhode Island SIP. This action is being taken under the Clean Air Act (CAA). EPA has evaluated the SIP revision and has preliminarily determined the changes will not impact emissions under the Rhode Island I/M program. EPA is proposing to conclude that approval of the SIP revision will not interfere with attainment or maintenance of any National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) or with any other applicable requirement of the CAA. Therefore, EPA is proposing to determine that Rhode Island's December 20, 2023, SIP revision is consistent with the applicable provisions of the CAA. </SUM> <DATES> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Written comments must be received on or before August 27, 2025. </DATES> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R01-OAR-2025-0249 at <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov,</E> or via email to [insert appropriate regional email address]. For comments submitted at <E T="03">Regulations.gov</E> , follow the online instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from <E T="03">Regulations.gov</E> . For either manner of submission, the EPA may publish any comment received to its public docket. Do not submit electronically any information you consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be accompanied by a written comment. The written comment is considered the official comment and should include discussion of all points you wish to make. The EPA will generally not consider comments or comment contents located outside of the primary submission ( <E T="03">i.e.,</E> on the web, cloud, or other file sharing system). For additional submission methods, please contact the person identified in the “For Further Information Contact” section. For the full EPA public comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general guidance on making effective comments, please visit <E T="03">https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.</E> Publicly available docket materials are available at <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> or at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Region 1 Regional Office, Air and Radiation Division, 5 Post Office Square—Suite 100, Boston, MA. EPA requests that if at all possible, you contact the contact listed in the <E T="02">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT</E> section to schedule your inspection. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Ayla Martinelli, Air Quality Branch, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Region 1, 5 Post Office Square—Suite 100, (Mail code 5-MI), Boston, MA 02109-3912, tel. (617) 918-1057, email: <E T="03">martinelli.ayla@epa.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> Throughout this document, “we,” “us,” or “our” refers to the EPA. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Table of Contents</HD> <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">I. Background and Purpose</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. What are the Clean Air Act requirements for I/M programs?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. Summary of Rhode Island's Regulatory Changes</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">IV. Proposed Action</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">V. Incorporation by Reference</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">VI. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews</FP> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Background and Purpose</HD> On December 20, 2023, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Office of Air Resources submitted to EPA a revision to its SIP that amends the State's I/M program regulations. EPA is proposing to approve Rhode Island's revised I/M program because it is consistent with the CAA I/M requirements and EPA's I/M regulations at 40 CFR part 51, subpart S, and will strengthen the SIP. Specifically, the revision consists of amendments to Rhode Island's Air Pollution Control Regulations (APCR) Part 34, “Rhode Island Motor Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance Program,” to remove provisions related to tailpipe emissions testing using a dynamometer and to make other adjustments, as well as other administrative and technical documentation required in a SIP submittal to address the requirements for the implementation of the motor vehicle inspection and maintenance program in Rhode Island. The State's I/M program, as currently approved into the SIP, exempts vehicles from testing that are more than 25 model years old. As a result, Rhode Island ceased tailpipe testing of pre-OBD-equipped vehicles  <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> in 2021. <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>  On-Board Diagnostic systems (OBD) became a requirement for light-duty gasoline vehicles starting in the 1996 model year. </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">II. What are the Clean Air Act requirements for I/M programs?</HD> The CAA, 42 U.S.C. 7401, <E T="03">et seq.,</E> requires certain states to implement I/M programs to detect light duty motor vehicles that emit excessive amounts of certain air pollutants. These programs are intended to help states meet federal NAAQS for ozone and carbon monoxide to promote public health and welfare by requiring vehicles with excess emissions to have their emissions control systems repaired to remain in use. Sections 182 and 187 of the CAA requires I/M programs in those areas of the nation that are most impacted by ozone and carbon monoxide pollution. 42 U.S.C. 7511a, 7511c, 7512a. Section 184 of the CAA also created an “Ozone Transport Region” (OTR) that geographically includes the states from Virginia to Maine (including all of Rhode Island) and the District of Columbia Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area. In addition, EPA promulgated I/M regulations at 40 CFR part 51, subpart S. The CAA and EPA's regulations under 40 CFR 51.350 outline the applicable motor vehicle I/M requirements according to an area's NAAQS nonattainment status and classification and/or geographic location within the OTR. As a result of having areas designated nonattainment for the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS (see 40 CFR 81.340) and by virtue of its inclusion in the OTR, Rhode Island has implemented a statewide Low Enhanced vehicle emissions testing program since January of 2000. The Rhode Island I/M program, first approved into the SIP on February 9, 2001, included all the elements required of a Low Enhanced I/M program (66 FR 9661). At that time, the Rhode Island I/M program operated statewide at licensed private garages that also performed the required safety tests on vehicles. Rhode Island operated a test-and-repair network with vehicle tailpipe emissions testing performed with dynamometers and synced into a computer connected network. Enforcement was by windshield stickers but was changed to registration denial in January 2001. Since that time, the program has been modified in several ways. Rhode Island submitted an I/M program SIP revision on January 28, 2009, and supplemented it on February 17, 2017, which EPA approved into the SIP on May 25, 2018 (83 FR 24223). This revision marked the shift to On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) testing for model year 1996 and newer vehicles, but the state continued to require that 1995 and older vehicles (up to 25 years old) receive a tailpipe emissions test using a dynamometer to meet the previously SIP-approved exhaust emissions standards, or a two-speed idle test for vehicles with drive configurations that prevented a dynamometer test. The OBD system continuously monitors the emission control systems and will activate the malfunction indicator lamp (MIL) on the dashboard, also commonly referred to as the “Check Engine” light, if a fault, also known as a Diagnostic Trouble Code (DTC), is detected. During an OBD test in an I/M program, the presence of one or more DTCs that command the MIL on indicates a failed inspection. In general, vehicles that fail inspection must be repaired and be retested. OBD I/M programs can yield emission benefits even from vehicles that do not fail a test. For instance, many motorists, when seeing the OBD “Check Engine” light is on, will elect to repair their vehicle prior to their required inspection. <HD SOURCE="HD1">III. Summary of Rhode Island's Regulatory Changes</HD> The I/M program in Rhode Island's current approved SIP exempts model year vehicles 25 years old or older from having to obtain repairs, following a failed emissions inspection. Thus, since 2021, all vehicles subject to tailpipe emissions testing using a dynamometer have aged out of any requirement to obtain testing and repairs under the Rhode Island I/M program. Rhode Island's amended APCR Part 34, submitted as a SIP revision on December 20, 2023, updates the I/M program in Rhode Island, including removing provisions related to dynamometer testing, which has ceased, and other minor clarifications. Since these administrative changes to the State's regulat ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 17k characters. 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