This weekend car owners in New Hampshire were supposed to be done with regular automobile emission inspections. Although such inspections had been part of the New Hampshire's State Implementation Plan (SIP) under the federal Clean Air Act, the state legislature passed a law abolishing the program last year, effective today, January 31. Now, however, the inspections may be required after all.
Gordon-Darby Holdings, which owns the company that administered the program under a contract with the state did not want the program (and its associated revenue) to go away, so it filed suit, seeking an injunction to force New Hampshire to continue requiring automobile emission inspections. According to Gordon-Darby, New Hampshire was required to maintain the program unless and until it received approval from the federal Environmental Protection Agency. On this basis, the company went to court and—quite shockingly—prevailed.
In an order issued this past Tuesday in Gordon-Darby Holdings v. NH Department of Safety, federal district court judge Landya McCafferty enjoined New Hampshire from taking any action "to terminate, suspend, or otherwise cease implementation or enforcement" of the vehicle inspection program, on the grounds that ending the program would violate the Clean Air Act. Because the program was part of the state's EPA-approved SIP, it was now required under federal law.
