Start Of New Emissions Testing Program Delayed Again

HARTFORD (AP) — The start of the state’s new vehicle emissions testing program has been pushed back another month to September, a delay that could prompt some service station owners to drop the testing or demand to be paid for lost business.

The state has dropped its previous plan to resume the testing later this month because of delays in making sure computer software problems that led officials to shut the program down in April have been fixed, The Hartford Courant reported.

“It won’t be August,” state Sen Biagio “Billy” Ciotto, D-Wethersfield, said Tuesday. “They still have some issues to work out with the program’s software.”

Mr Ciotto, co-chairman of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, made the comments after meeting with DMV Commissioner Gary J. DeFilippo.

The DMV and the testing contractor, Chicago-based Agbar Technologies, have discussed performing limited testing of vehicles owned by the state and car dealers in early or mid-September, the newspaper reported. The program would open to the public later in the month.

But state officials said there could be another delay if problems with the software persist.

DMV spokesman Bill Seymour confirmed that full-scale testing for the general public will not start until sometime in September.

Ray Garcia, a New Haven lawyer representing Agbar, would not comment.

Auditors said the new testing system was riddled with software and technical problems.

The DMV and Agbar have been negotiating improvements to the testing system for three months.

Agbar officials have said the software was adjusted to address the most significant findings in the audit, and they accused the DMV of delaying the restart.

The DMV, however, said problems with Agbar’s repair work delayed a resolution.

In June, DMV officials dealt a blow to participating garages when they announced that the program would not be ready to resume in July, within the 90-day time frame set by Mr DeFilippo and then-Gov John G. Rowland when they shut down the program in April. That pushed the restart to August.

The new delay was expected to further fuel the frustrations of the more than 270 garage owners who conduct the $20 tests and who generate business by repairing failing vehicles. Many of the garages gave up a repair bay or invested in improvements to accommodate testing equipment that now sits idle.

“This is going to increase the frustration of the guys, who are already losing money and were counting on an August start,” said Michael J. Fox, director of the Gasoline & Automotive Service Dealers of America, which has been acting as a liaison for the garages. “I think you’ll see some of them want to leave the program, and others pushing harder for compensation.”

Dennis Schain, a spokesman for Gov M. Jodi Rell, said the governor would like to see testing resume as soon as possible, but wants to be sure “we do it right.”