Tiffany says he will seek waiver to end program in seven Wisconsin counties
Spurred in part by the Environmental Protection Agency’s historic elimination of its greenhouse gas standards, momentum is growing to end vehicle emissions testing programs in several states, including Wisconsin.
The agency under current Administrator Lee Zeldin has shown a willingness to work with states to get rid of the costly programs that, as the Badger Institute has reported, have not proven they improve air quality.
Earlier this week, U.S. Rep.Tom Tiffany, a Republican candidate for governor, said that if elected he will seek a necessary waiver from the EPA to end a program that has cost taxpayers more than $275 million and annually affects the owners of more than 640,000 vehicles in the seven biggest counties in southeastern Wisconsin.
“After 40 years without clear evidence of meaningful impact, it’s time to reconsider this program,” Tiffany said Monday in Greendale. “This program remains time-consuming, frustrating, and often places costly repair burdens on those least able to afford them.”
Tiffany cited his working relationship with Zeldin as an advantage in securing a waiver for Wisconsin vehicle owners. He promised to work with the EPA and neighboring states to pinpoint air pollution sources that prompted the creation of the emissions testing program in 1984 in Wisconsin and states across the country.
Tiffany’s pledge advances a request made of Wisconsin’s congressional delegation in December by state Rep. Bob Donovan, R-Greenfield, and 17 other state legislators to fight for the end of the testing program.
“We believe that the continuance of this program will not significantly improve air quality and reduce emissions but instead continue to tax Wisconsinites for a program that has outlived its usefulness,” Donovan said in a letter to the congressional delegation.
“Each of us is willing to do our fair share of what the government asks of us, if it makes sense. Well, this doesn’t make sense any longer,” Donovan said at an appearance with Tiffany Monday.
The Badger Institute contacted eight Democratic candidates for governor seeking comment. One responded by our deadline.
Candidate Kelda Roys, a Democratic State Senator from Madison said, “This is the latest example of Tom Tiffany and the Trump regime having no interest in protecting Wisconsinites — this time from polluted air that has damaged our health.”
There is ample cause to question the value of vehicle emissions testing. In a comprehensive investigation in October 2023, the Badger Institute found scant evidence that the program had ever improved air quality in the southeastern part of the state.
The program itself, run by a contractor at an annual cost of $2.6 million paid with a one-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax, has not been audited for performance of any kind since 2002, the investigation found.
At least nine other states had done no auditing as of the end of 2023, according to an EPA Office of the Inspector General report at the time. “The EPA itself finds it difficult to determine the effectiveness of emission testing,” our investigation concluded.
Over decades, improvements in vehicle engine efficiency have resulted in a 94% reduction in volatile organic compound emissions, a 91% reduction in carbon monoxide and an 83% reduction in nitrogen oxide on the nation’s highways, according to EPA emissions data.
This in spite of a dramatic increase in vehicle traffic during that time period in Wisconsin, according to Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) data.
Not surprisingly, the number of cars that fail the vehicle emissions test have plummeted from the time the program started. In 2023, of the 644,526 vehicles tested, 19,826 or 3% failed – approximately the same percentage as the two prior years, according to the three most recent Wisconsin Vehicle Inspection Program annual reports.
“Science has advanced. Technology has advanced. Our engineering of vehicles has advanced,” Donovan said this week. “This is an issue that the residents and the driving public of southeastern Wisconsin has put up with for 40 years. It’s not getting the job done.”
Last week, the EPA announced that it intended to fast track a request by the state of New Hampshire for a federal waiver that would allow it to follow through on a legislative bill to terminate the vehicle emissions program.
“EPA is working at record speed with the state to ensure all decisions are made in accordance with requirements under the Clean Air Act and to provide the people of New Hampshire relief from burdensome regulations,” Zeldin said in a press release.
Zeldin said the agency hopes to have a decision sometime this summer, finalizing it by the end of the year.
New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed the end of the program into law in June 2025. The state’s contractor for the program sued the state and a judge granted a preliminary injunction blocking the law from taking effect. The state, however, announced that it will not compel vehicle owners to get tested, awaiting the EPA waiver decision.
Legislators in Indiana and Maryland are considering ditching their vehicle emissions testing programs. Maryland State Delegate Christopher Eric Bouchat decided not to run for reelection and run for governor instead. Like Tiffany, he wants to end what he calls a “cash grab.”
“It’s a joke, it’s a facade, and someone needs to stand up and tell the truth,” he said. “And since I’m not running for reelection, I have the cajónes to do it,” Bouchat told a local news source.
Zeldin’s recent comments indicate that he has opened another front in the attack on the cumulative rulemaking by the EPA on air quality issues, particularly during the Obama and Biden administrations.
In mid-February, Zeldin rescinded the agency’s Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding, a 2009 Obama creation that established stringent new greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles and helped clear a pathway for the electric vehicle industry.
After review, Zeldin said the agency concluded it did not have statutory authority to mandate emission standards without the approval of Congress.
In his bombshell announcement, Zeldin cited three Supreme Court rulings over the last decade, each overruling the overreach of the EPA:
Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo in 2024 admonished lower federal courts for deferring to a federal agency’s interpretation of state statutes; West Virginia v. EPA, in 2022, denied the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions; and Michigan v. EPA in 2015 said the EPA failed to factor in the cost of power plant regulation under the Clean Air Act.
“In this final rule,” Zeldin said in his statement, “EPA is saving American taxpayers over $1.3 trillion. The Trump EPA’s final rule dismantles the tactics and legal fictions used by the Obama and Biden Administrations to backdoor their ideological agendas on the American people.”
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