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OEMs sue EPA seeking timely enforcement

Snowmobile manufacturers have filed a counter suit to ensure timely enforcement of the new EPA regulations to improve air quality. Environmental activists are trying to block new EPA emission regulations for off-road vehicles
The International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association (ISMA), on Jan. 8, 2003, filed a counter suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, to
stop legal maneuvers by environmental groups
that could leave the U.S. without new standards and a timetable for reducing snowmobile exhaust emissions.
“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed ambitious standards and an aggressive schedule that will reduce snowmobile emissions in the next decade by 70% from present levels,” said Ed Klim, president of ISMA.
“Despite the standards’ basis in sound and unbiased scientific data — reviewed by independent experts — environmental extremists seem more intent on perpetuating their movements than in moving America toward meaningful air quality improvement,” Klim charged.
The ISMA legal action comes in response to the San Francisco-based Bluewater Network which filed suit, along with other organizations, on Jan. 7, 2003, challenging the EPA rule by claiming the new requirements are not stringent enough.
“These fringe activists are simply unable to accept the facts,” Klim said. “Even the EPA admitted that unbiased scientific data proved snowmobile emission levels were previously overestimated by more than 70%. These activists have waged an unwarranted campaign against snowmobiles based on nothing but junk science and misinformation. Now they have filed a frivolous lawsuit, trying to use the court system to overturn the ambitious emission reduction schedule the industry is hard at work trying to meet.”
The new EPA regulations announced in October call for a stringent three-phase reduction in snowmobile emissions. By 2006, emission levels must be reduced to 70% of levels permitted in 2002. By 2010, emissions must be reduced to half of present-day levels, and by 2012 emissions can amount to only 30% of present levels.
ISMA members include Arctic Cat, Inc.; Bombardier, Inc.; Polaris Industries, Inc.; and Yamaha Motor Corporation.

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