The remote sensing technology used to catch smoke-belching vehicles is “ineffective,” frequently passing polluting cars and falsely catching ones that would pass a traditional tailpipe test, a legislative audit shows.
The audit was released Tuesday, just days before the state Air Quality Control Commission is set to consider a plan to phase out the traditional testing facilities and beef up the use of the Denver area’s RapidScreen program.
Using infrared and ultraviolet beams of light, RapidScreen analyzes a passing vehicle’s plume of exhaust. It is designed to approve low-polluting vehicles, allowing their owners to skip a trip to one of the metro area’s 14 emission testing facilities.
But auditors found that many cars that were “clean-screened” – 21 percent of the vehicles they surveyed – failed the traditional emission test. And more than half of the vehicles that failed the mobile test passed the screening when the driver went to a traditional facility.
“Is this a product that was misrepresented to the General Assembly?” asked Sen. Nancy Spence, R-Centennial, after auditors revealed the faulty tests.
Dennis Ellis, the state health department director, said the department is fine-tuning the program. “I think people understood it was going to be a challenge,” he said.
A law passed this year calls for traditional testing facilities to be replaced with the mobile technology. The law’s proponents say the traditional tailpipe tests are burdensome to motorists, who often must endure a long wait only to be told their vehicle isn’t a polluter.
Auditors, however, told members of the legislative audit committee Tuesday that they’re not so sure the RapidScreen vans actually increase convenience for motorists.
That is because the program has a high “false-fail” rate.
Using a sample of 2003-05 data, auditors identified 1,263 vehicles that failed the RapidScreen test. Of those vehicles, 82 percent would have passed an emission facility test. Using a less stringent set of standards, the auditors estimated 54 percent of RapidScreen tests were false fails.
“It’s not good news given Denver’s ozone situation,” said Jeremy Nichols, director of Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action. “Clearly, the tests need to be better.”
Officials from the company that runs RapidScreen did not return calls. This past summer, the Denver area saw increased levels of ozone, an odorless, colorless gas that is one of the prime ingredients in urban smog.
If Denver experiences another high-ozone summer, federal environmental regulators might impose sanctions such as restricting highway funding and expansion by industry.
State health department officials said they are aware the RapidScreen technology has its limitations, but believe they can improve the program.
“If the technology challenge becomes too much, we’re going to come to the General Assembly and say ‘this isn’t working,”‘ Ellis said.
The Air Quality Control Commission is scheduled to consider a plan to implement the legislative mandate at its hearing Thursday in Boulder.
Staff writer Kim McGuire can be reached at 303-954-1240 or kmcguire@denverpost.com.
