EPA Seeks to Prohibit Conversion of Vehicles Into Racecars, appears legit.

[214Chevy]

Originally Posted by gEtyOpAPiOn

all these 3 letter agencies only objective is to take your money and create bs laws that do nothing but make up bs fees and taxes, even an air compressor needs a permit in CA

All of those 3 letter organizations basically spell one thing..."FEDERAL GOVERNMENT." And we all know the gov't is all about money in the form of taxes and fees.

[98ssnova]

So found this what do you think about this. I am not buying it.
http://http://www.thedrive.com/artic...net-freaks-out

[Efi69Cam]

Originally Posted by dontlifttoshift

It is funny that you chose to compare to the NRA because that is the way this whole thing reads to me.

"The NRA says the Gubmint is comin to take our guns"

"The SEMA says the gubmint is comin to take our racecars"

SEMA does a lot of great things, but fear mongering isn't one of them.

If you think what the NRA does is fear mongering you have not been paying attention.

The Olympic shooting team in Great Britain needs to travel to France to practice. Our friends in Australia need a engineering certificate for modifications like 4 link conversions that we take for granted, on top of not being able to own most firearms. Government out of control is something we need to fear.

SEMA SAN like the NRA serves a great purpose in terms of informing citizens when their rights are in danger. Comparing the two is entirely appropriate.

[Ben@SpeedTech]

98SS- If you're referring to the article by the Drive, I disagree totally with their approach. This shouldn't be taken lightly. Any situation like the rights of the masses of human beings is put into the hands of a few it's likely it won't benefit the masses. Yes SEMA is behind in fighting this but the EPA's intention is not to shut everything down right now... Their intention is to clarify "what was said many years ago" so that they are in a position to have clear authority to regulate it at any given moment. That's easily translated to "we totally intend to regulate all this at a future date, but for now we're going to give it to you softly so it's easy to swallow. Once the poison is ingested we will then watch it shut you down." Did you know a snake can memorize a bird by staring at it as it slowly and patiently creeps up, and as the bird still has a false sense of safety, out of nowhere the snake snatches up the bird and swallows it alive. That sort of tactic takes place everywhere when a group or individual has a long term agenda to accomplish what they want.

Luckily SEMA and other folks/ groups are all over this. The petition everyone is signing is only a small yet important part. Still I would hope the whole issue would continue to gain public awareness. We all carry some of the weight and responsibility to help spread the word.

A quote from the SEMA newsletter I received today...

said SEMA President and CEO Chris Kersting- “Despite EPA’s statements that the agency does not intend to enforce the law against race car owners, the agency is, in fact, writing new law into the regulations. As a result, if this proposal is finalized, the racing community and parts makers would forevermore be operating outside of that law and could be targeted for enforcement at a future date. We don’t consider it an overreaction to try to prevent this new interpretation from becoming law.”

They say now they won't enforce it, but if it all passes they can legally at any time do so, in 10 years or even "next week". It doesn't matter to them, with this power they can shut down our hobby as we know it at any given moment.

Here's the full article from SEMA...

Again, agreed that they likely won't put pressure on us as individuals, that's too large a task to try to regulate. But what happens to the individual when they force race tracks and sanctions like SCCA to comply- forcing them to put pressure on the individual so the EPA doesn't have to deal with it on that level- everyone else will do the EPA's job for them. Realistically there's no way this will be constrained to only full race cars. To avoid fines and such, race tracks will want to cover their butts, and to remove all gray area I foresee that they will at some point have to turn away street cars that aren't compliant too. Emissions equipment has been removed from cars since the late 1960s so this isn't just for late model computer controlled cars. This will affect near EVERYONE in the hobby in some way.

Sign the petition, write your governor, write the president, write the EPA, organize a group of picketers at your next local race and take photos to share on social media and get the news media involved to come down and put it on the 6:00 news. There's lots we can do outside of just signing the petition. All we need to do is help the public become aware of the situation. Nobody, including the EPA wants negative publicity and opposition (open adult like opposition, not riots and plundering ) and as far as I recall we live in a country that supports "We the people..." rather than "we the government agency decide what you can and can't do for a hobby". If we make enough stink they will be forced to comply with our desires.

[TheJDMan]

The EPA is not coming for your racecar. The EPA is coming for the aftermarket companies that make parts to turn your street car into a racecar.

Read this MotorTrend article. It will scare the crap out of you!

http://www.motortrend.com/news/epas-...e-aftermarket/

[Che70velle]

Originally Posted by TheJDMan

The EPA is not coming for your racecar. The EPA is coming for the aftermarket companies that make parts to turn your street car into a racecar.

Read this MotorTrend article. It will scare the crap out of you!

http://www.motortrend.com/news/epas-...e-aftermarket/

Steve, this is the notion that I took from all of this information. Stop the aftermarket, you therefore stop the conversions. Stop the conversions, you therefore stop the hobby. You simply can't build a hotrod without parts.
I'd like to hear a guy like Vic Edlebrock's opinion on this issue...

[Spiffav8]

Their are no fair minded people in the EPA who are addressing this. The only intent is to eliminate any and all forms of racing via any means. It is and will be an attack on several fronts. They will eliminate the after market industry. Period. (SEMA's sole reason for existing and a huge cash cow) Any item that they can not prove as being "intended for" and that modify a vehicle from it's stock form will be so tightly controlled, restricted and expensive at every level, that it won't be worth it.

We have already seen changes in the ways various branches of our Government have started addressing and enforcing the laws they cover. What's to stop the EPA from showing up at an event in a law enforcement capacity. You are held until your car has passed their inspection and if it fails, it is confiscated (sent to the crusher) and the owner arrested/cited. We have seen "street racers" in CA have this happen (for violating the law). Even if they don't "catch you", they will "starve you". With no replacement parts, sooner or later it's game over.

Think they will allow non modified cars to be raced? Maybe for a few, but at some point the use of any and all cars will simply be deemed as "for transportation only". If it ain't taking you to and from work, you are "unnecessarily polluting or wasting" or a resource.

It's important to be leery of labels or of something like this being defined. Even more so when you consider "who" is doing it or what that "interpretation" is.

This isn't good on any level and should be fought on every level. 2016 is going to be a sh1t show, especially in it's final days.

Hey...Enjoy the weekend!

[TheJDMan]

Originally Posted by Spiffav8

Their are no fair minded people in the EPA who are addressing this. The only intent is to eliminate any and all forms of racing via any means.

This statement is completely unfair and false. The EPA is made up of ordinary people just like you and I, both Democrats and Republicans, who work a job, pay a mortgage and have families. The EPA has no interest in eliminating any form of racing. The EPA is focused solely on reducing emission sources and in that respect they have done an outstanding job. Today we have clean air to breath and clean water in our lakes and streams to drink.

Our problem as car enthusiasts is that we don't want them in our play ground messing with our toys. So the issue we need to focus on is not bashing the EPA, but working on solutions for stopping additional regulations from becoming law which will ultimately kill the aftermarket manufacturers.

To be perfectly honest, I happen to like clean air and water. The problem is I also like racing and racecars. So I have a conflict of interest that I have to deal with. Because of this conflict, would like to see a dialog started between SEMA and EPA on possible alternatives to just a blanket law that you must have factory certified emissions equipment installed. I would like to see an alternate procedure in place whereby any aftermarket engine builder would be allowed to simply pass an emissions sniff test and have the engine be certified legal. Given the state of modern technology, computer machining processes and EFI, I don't think it would be unreasonable to be able to build an engine that could pass emissions tests without the arbitrary need for emissions hardware hanging on it.

Join SEMA Action Network today!
http://semasan.com

[fleetus macmullitz]

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...-investigation

An investigation of a mine waste accident in Colorado that fouled rivers in three states with arsenic, lead and other toxic substances has found further evidence that government workers knew a spill from the gold mine was possible, according to documents released on Thursday by a US House of Representatives committee.

Hays Griswold, an Environmental Protection Agency official in charge of the Gold King mine at the time of the August accident, said in an email he “personally knew” the plugged, inactive mine could contain large volumes of water.

The email was sent on 28 October to other EPA officials and provided on Thursday by the House natural resources committee as it released the findings of the Republican-led investigation.

An EPA clean-up crew triggered the spill during excavation work at the mine’s entrance, unleashing a three-million-gallon deluge that contaminated rivers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.

The release dumped more than 880,000lb of heavy metals into Colorado’s Animas River, forcing the closure of downstream public water systems until the plume passed and raising concerns about long-term environmental impacts.

“I personally knew it could be holding back a lot of water, and I believe the others in the group knew as well,” Griswold wrote in the email.

EPA officials did not immediately respond to questions about the email.

The spill occurred when workers for EPA and its contractor, Environmental Restoration, started excavation work that was intended to allow them to safely drain the mine.

An Interior Department investigation pinned responsibility on the EPA for not checking to see if the mine held pressurized water. EPA officials previously said the workers on site determined there was no or low pressure from water backed up inside the mine.

Griswold indicated in the email that the determination of low water pressure was based on mistaken assumptions about the location of the top of the mine’s buried entrance, known in mining as the brow.

The excavation work was intended to clear away debris for the entrance before the mine was to be drained at a later date, he wrote.

“We and or I particularly thought we were four or maybe five feet above the brow,” Griswold wrote.

...cont'd at link.

[Spiffav8]

Originally Posted by TheJDMan

This statement is completely unfair and false. The EPA is made up of ordinary people just like you and I, both Democrats and Republicans, who work a job, pay a mortgage and have families. The EPA has no interest in eliminating any form of racing. The EPA is focused solely on reducing emission sources and in that respect they have done an outstanding job. Today we have clean air to breath and clean water in our lakes and streams to drink.

Our problem as car enthusiasts is that we don't want them in our play ground messing with our toys. So the issue we need to focus on is not bashing the EPA, but working on solutions for stopping additional regulations from becoming law which will ultimately kill the aftermarket manufacturers.

To be perfectly honest, I happen to like clean air and water. The problem is I also like racing and racecars. So I have a conflict of interest that I have to deal with. Because of this conflict, would like to see a dialog started between SEMA and EPA on possible alternatives to just a blanket law that you must have factory certified emissions equipment installed. I would like to see an alternate procedure in place whereby any aftermarket engine builder would be allowed to simply pass an emissions sniff test and have the engine be certified legal. Given the state of modern technology, computer machining processes and EFI, I don't think it would be unreasonable to be able to build an engine that could pass emissions tests without the arbitrary need for emissions hardware hanging on it.

Join SEMA Action Network today!
http://semasan.com

Completely unfair and false? Not really. Kind of harsh though.

I to like clean air, water, etc. I also share your desire to see a balanced and fair way of achieving goals that satisfy all parties. Sadly that's not reality. Not everyone thinks like that. There are those that look at cars like yours and mine and see them as evil. Doesn't matter than you've replaced that old engine with a modern one and have reduced the emission output, increased the MPG, improved the safety and lowered the carbon foot print....all things they want. We are seen as loud, wild and unruly. You are the enemy, evil and the source of the problem in their mind. I will never forget being in NORCAL and seeing the stereotypical Birkenstock wearing, tree huger who is driving a beat up VW bug. The back end of the car was covered with "SAVE THE _____" stickers. The truly funny part was that this car was blowing black exhaust, the brakes sounded like metal on metal, and it was rusty beyond belief. This is the type of person that doesn't like you or your Camaro and fights to have it illuminated. This person is lobbying, backing and the type that gravitates towards a job in the EPA. It's a good cause kind of thing.

When have we ever seen the government pass laws that are fair for everyone, don't negatively impact the end users (you and I) or industry unfairly? That just doesn't happen. Take the hot topics of Guns and Gay Marriage for an example. What does happen is extremely restrictive laws are passed that go far beyond what's needed. Then those laws have to be challenged and fought to gain back some of what was lost.

I look at it like this. If I wanted to crush something in America that I didn't like, the easy way would be to create laws that where like an iron cap that cut off any and all means. Then I'd sit back back and fend off attacks. I've already won and even if some or part of what I accomplished is reversed...the negatives have all ready done damage.

The reality is that the EPA is a government agency that does what it's told to do. It is also made up of people (not all) who have selfish motives of one type or another (this is everywhere) and people who need to justify their jobs/reason for being. This isn't just an EPA or even government thing. It's a people thing.

Guys like you and I who want balance, have to fight these things in a harsh way. If we put an iron cap on the subject, we control what happens.

With Respect Brother!