INDIANAPOLIS (January 2, 2007) The vehicle inspection and maintenance program in Clark and Floyd counties ended on December 31. As first announced in May, Governor Mitch Daniels said the testing program, Clean Air Car Check, is no longer needed to maintain compliance with the health-based federal ozone air quality standards for the two counties.

"Any day we can return a dollar in lower taxes or a little bit more freedom to Hoosiers is a good day. Vehicle inspections may once have made sense, but there was no longer any good reason for government to impose any burden of cost or lost time on the people of Clark and Floyd counties. I only wish Jim Bottorff could have been here to join us in this announcement," said Daniels.

Vehicles registered in Clark and Floyd counties account for only a small percent of the total vehicle traffic in the metropolitan area and have a minimal impact on local air quality. The testing station in Floyd County closed in November, and the Clark County station closed at the end of the year.

"Hoosiers have invested heavily in clean air and proved it through more than a decade of clean fuels and vehicle testing," said Thomas W. Easterly, Indiana Department of Environmental Management commissioner. "It's time to liberate the economy of Clark and Floyd counties from unneeded testing and restraints."

The Indiana Department of Environmental Management conducted a hearing in June to accept public comment about the redesignation of Clark and Floyd counties as attainment for ozone. The petition for redesignation has been submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with a demonstration that the area will continue to meet the federal ozone air quality standard without the inspection and maintenance program.

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