Trump EPA Moves To Let New Hampshire Scrap Car Emissions Tests As Public Comments Close Friday

Public comments close Friday on the Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to let New Hampshire leave a Northeast air pollution zone that requires car emissions testing.

The EPA’s proposals, published Aug. 11, would grant New Hampshire’s petition to leave the Ozone Transport Region and conditionally approve the state’s request to drop its vehicle inspection and maintenance program from its federal air quality plan, according to the agency.

The agency is accepting comments on both proposals until Sept. 25, and New Hampshire would leave the region and drop the program only if the EPA finalizes both actions as proposed, the EPA said.

The EPA did not immediately provide a comment on the record, and Republican New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.

The Ozone Transport Region is a group of Northeastern states required to include ozone reduction measures in their air quality plans even if they already meet federal ozone standards, the agency said in an Aug. 6 statement.

The region includes New Hampshire as well as Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, D.C., and parts of northern Virginia, according to the EPA’s proposal in the Federal Register.

Because New Hampshire is within the region, its plan includes the inspection program, and the state must leave the region and show that ending the program will not interfere with meeting national air quality standards, according to the EPA.

New Hampshire’s data projects that emissions of nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds and carbon monoxide will fall 16%, 2.7% and 1.9% from 2022 to 2026 even without the inspection program, partly because older vehicles are being replaced by cleaner ones, according to the proposal.

All 12 of the state’s air monitoring sites measured ozone at or below 65 parts per billion from 2022 to 2024, under the federal limit of 70 parts per billion, the agency said.

The EPA has previously found that New Hampshire does not significantly contribute to ozone problems in downwind states, and ending the inspection program does not change that finding, according to the proposal.

The state has committed to keeping every other pollution control measure it adopted as a member of the region, the EPA said.

The approval is conditional on New Hampshire submitting a follow-up plan within one year that lists the inspection program as a backup measure, and it would automatically become a disapproval if the state misses that deadline, according to the proposal.

“EPA is committed to working collaboratively with states to reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens while maintaining strong environmental protections and following our statutory obligations. This is the best way to provide clean air for all Americans,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in the Aug. 6 statement.

“Commonsense rulemaking is essential to advancing air quality across New England. We look forward to receiving the public input at this stage of the review process,” EPA Region 1 Administrator Mark Sanborn added.

Ayotte signed a law in June 2025 repealing the program, including its emissions testing, the agency said. The state asked the EPA to approve the change on Dec. 24, 2025.

The state’s inspection program ended early this year despite warnings from Sanborn that ending it without federal approval would put New Hampshire in violation of federal law, the New Hampshire Bulletin reported.

New Hampshire officials said data in the state’s application showed that ending the tests would not harm air quality, though some experts said the information in a draft version was not conclusive, according to the outlet.

Police stopped enforcing the requirement in February, and drivers can still be fined for unsafe equipment such as bald tires or cracked windshields, New Hampshire Public Radio reported.

Republicans in the state backed the repeal as a win for personal liberty, while mechanics and auto dealers opposed it, according to the outlet.

A federal judge ruled the state was in violation of the Clean Air Act without the EPA’s approval, InDepthNH reported.

Gordon-Darby, the company that makes the state’s inspection equipment, sued and won a preliminary injunction blocking the repeal, InDepthNH reported in March.

After the judge ordered the state in February to resume inspections, Republican New Hampshire House Majority Leader Jason Osborne said, “Vehicle inspections are dead in the Live Free or Die state, no matter what delusion this judge is under,” according to InDepthNH’s February report.

Democratic Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill said residents were experiencing “needless turmoil due to the Legislature’s reckless decision to eliminate auto inspections without putting a responsible plan in place,” according to the outlet.

The judge declined in April to hold state officials in contempt, the Boston Globe reported.

The company has since dropped its suit, the Keene Sentinel reported in August.

A Wilton woman has also sued over the end of inspections, citing air pollution and its effect on people’s breathing, in a case that has drawn support from the equipment maker, according to the Sentinel.

“Today’s proposed actions are an important step toward bringing New Hampshire’s federal air quality requirements into alignment with state law,” Republican New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said in a statement, the Bulletin reported.

The EPA scheduled a virtual public hearing for Aug. 26 on its proposal to remove New Hampshire from the region, according to the Federal Register notice.

The EPA has up to 18 months to decide on such petitions but said it is working to issue a final decision before the end of the year.