Hill employees will have to report personal vehicles emissions

  • Published
  • By Barbara Fisher
  • 75th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah --  Starting Jan. 27, Hill AFB employees -- both military and civilian -- will be required to start reporting their vehicle emissions information annually into a new Air Force Web-based system called ECARS (Employee-Certification and Reporting System).

ECARS is part of the Air Force Vehicle Self-Certification Program, which brings the Air Force in compliance with the Clean Air Act, Section 118d. This statute requires all federal (both military and civilians) employees to meet the Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance (I/M) Program requirements where the member is employed.

"This Air Force requirement applies in areas of the United States that struggle to meet air quality requirements," said Glenn Palmer, Hill's air quality program manager with the 75th Civil Engineer Group. "Approximately 60 Air Force bases are required to implement ECARS; Hill is one of those bases."

Hill AFB is considered to be located within the Vehicle I/M Program area for Davis County, Utah, Palmer said.

"In Davis County, vehicle owners are required to have a current emissions certificate for their vehicle," he said. "An emissions certificate will now be required for vehicles Hill employees drive on the base more than 60 days per year. This means that no matter where in Utah you reside or in what state the vehicle is registered, an emissions certificate will now be required for the vehicle."

Until 2006, Palmer said the Air Force used the base decal system to show compliance with the Clean Air Act. To get a base decal for a vehicle prior to 2006, employees were required to have a current emissions certificate, along with a current registration and proof of insurance.

"When the decal program was discontinued here and across the Air Force, we were left with no way to track vehicle emission certificates," Palmer said. "ECARS is designed to fix this compliance issue."

There are some exemptions to the new requirement, he noted. Hill contractors and retirees (who are not current federal employees) are not required to use ECARS. Other exemptions include:

· Vehicles 1967 model year or older
· Vehicles with a diesel engine
· Motorcycles
· Vehicles purchased brand-new by current owner less than two years ago
· Vehicles not driven on Hill AFB 60 days or more a year
· Vehicles registered as vintage, collectible, or classic

"Regardless of whether or not a vehicle is exempt, all employees, even those who carpool, will still need to go into ECARS to complete the self-certification process," Palmer said. "ECARS provides the option to select an exemption that is valid for Hill AFB.
If further action is required, the system will prompt employees to do so."

Hill employees will first be notified to go into ECARS on Jan. 27 with an e-mail from no-reply@apims.af.mil, with a subject line of: "Action Required: vehicle emission testing self-certification is due within 30 days."

If the employee does not certify emissions data in ECARS, commanders will be notified 90 days after the Jan. 27 date. ECARS will send annual notifications to employees to update emissions information.

"A passed emission test from any I/M program within the United States will be accepted at Hill AFB," Palmer said. "If a vehicle is registered outside of an area which currently requires emissions testing and does not meet one of the exemptions, Hill employees will be required to have the vehicle emissions tested."

Locally, Davis, Weber, Salt Lake and Utah counties all offer emission testing at many auto repair shops or garages. Average cost for the test is approximately $25, according to Utah's Motor Vehicle Division website. The website said there is also an additional Emission Program Fee that each of the four counties charge. The fee varies from $1 to $3.

For more information about ECARS, contact: Glenn Palmer at 801-775-6918, glenn.palmer.1@us.af.mil; Barbara Fisher at 801-775-3652, barbara.fisher.1@us.af.mil; or Mark Kaschmitter at 801-775-2359, mark.kaschmitter.ctr@us.af.mil.