EPA crashes amateur car races with buried regulation

A “power grab” by the Environmental Protection Agency threatens to crash America’s amateur car-racing industry without putting so much as a dent in climate change, warns the chairman of the House Space, Science and Technology Committee.

The EPA’s move to regulate emissions on non-road racing vehicles contradicted agency administrator Gina McCarthy’s earlier testimony that the EPA did not have authority over non-road race cars and motorcycles.

EPA officials said they are “clarifying” emissions law, yet the Clean Air Act has long exempted non-road vehicles used in competition. The agency has not made a similar move against NASCAR or other professional race circuits.

“The EPA cannot assume powers that Congress hasn’t given,” Rep. Lamar Smith, chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, said at an Oversight Subcommittee hearing Tuesday. The Texas Republican accused the agency of “unlawful regulation (conducted) without proper notice.”

Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-North Carolina, introduced a bipartisan bill, HR 4715, to block the EPA’s action. Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar is among the co-sponsors.

“The federal government has no place testing emissions at private tracks,” McHenry told the subcommittee.

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