CARB leads a cutback

The new requirements mean retailers in the Golden State will have fewer aftermarket converters, as the new California standards make life tougher for manufacturers, especially for cars made after 1996.

Henry Hippert, sales manager of Eastern Catalytic in Langhorne, Pa., says Eastern must now make two lines — one for California, one for the other 49 states — of each of its 1,500 converters, which are based on four common converter dimensions. It will cost Eastern about $100,000 to design and test each California converter, although one converter may be certified for a number of different models, and even among different manufacturers. Warranties will have to be upped to 50,000 miles from 25,000 miles, which is the EPA requirement.

However, there may be a silver lining: California converters, as they slowly become available, may allow stores to get a higher profit margin.

The California situation would be multiplied 49 times if the EPA decides to follow suit. The agency hasn't changed its aftermarket converter requirements since 1986. Hippert thinks the EPA is going to watch what happens in California, wait for the kinks in the new CARB regulations to be worked out, and then change its federal catalytic converter regulations to parallel California's.

Manufacturers of Emissions Controls Association (MECA) supports developing one national converter standard, and Executive Director Joseph Kubsh says he and his group spoke with EPA officials in September, urging them to follow the new California regulations. With the Democrats leading Washington and environmentalists having more political leverage than they did with the Bush administration, it is possible that the EPA is willing to establish a national standard.

Cathy Milbourn, an EPA spokeswoman, says, "We are aware of California's actions and are assessing how this issue fits into federal program priorities."

What makes that even more likely is the new ozone standard the EPA adopted earlier this year. States are developing implementation plans to meet the tighter emissions standard, which was reduced from 0.84 parts per million (ppm) to 0.075 ppm. Ozone is created when nitrogen oxides and volatile organic chemicals mix in the atmosphere and are exposed to sunlight. Auto exhaust accounts for about 30 percent of the NOx and VOC emissions in most urban areas. One way states will meet the new ozone standard is to toughen up inspection and maintenance programs, which dictate auto emission inspection requirements. So requiring higher-performance catalytic converters nationally would be one way the EPA could make life easier for the states vis-a-vis the new ozone standard.

Stephen Barlas has been a full-time freelance Washington editor since 1981, reporting for trade, professional magazines and newspapers on regulatory agency, congressional and White House actions and issues. He also writes a column for Automotive Engineering, the monthly publication for the Society of Automotive Engineers.