Advised by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that mandatory diesel testing is undesirable, Utah County commissioners have recently repealed the tests as a prerequisite to register diesel vehicles, according to The Daily Herald. The county had required emissions testing of all diesels manufactured since 1967, except for newest model vehicles, for the last decade. The testing will be eliminated because the EPA told Utah County officials that there is no science to support the need for it. As a result of the EPA’s advice, mandatory diesel emissions testing will conclude at the end of this year, and diesel vehicles with registration expiring in 2005 must still pass emission tests even if they wait until next year to register their vehicle. Despite the end of testing, Utah County officials did state that diesel vehicle owners are still bound to state law regulating exhaust and that air quality authorities can impose a diesel emissions test on any vehicle suspected of exceeding the 20 percent opacity limit. County officials also added that testing could be reinstated as a health regulation, but said chances of that actually happening are unlikely.
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