Emissions Testing Company

Under Scrutiny In Connecticut

By Noreen Gillespie Associated Press Writer

HARTFORD –– The state Department of Motor Vehicles ordered Agbar Technologies President Thomas Fornier into a meeting Tuesday because of problems found in the company’s vehicle emissions testing program in Massachusetts.

Agbar is scheduled to launch an emissions testing program in Connecticut on October 17.

“We had a candid conversation about the issues,” DMV spokesman Bill Seymour said. “We told them we’re going to keep an eye on the situation.”

Officials in Massachusetts were considering whether to temporarily suspend that state’s emissions program because of testing problems that cause faulty results in up to ten percent of vehicles tested, the Telegram & Gazette of Worcester reported Tuesday.

Robert Golledge, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, said it may take a couple of months to correct problems with how Chicago-based Agbar has maintained high-tech equipment for the tests, and the way some inspection stations have been administering them.

Mr Seymour said Connecticut officials were contacting the Massachusetts DEP, the Massachusetts Department of Motor Vehicles, and Agbar officials to gather information. He said Connecticut has not launched a formal investigation.

Mr Seymour emphasized that the system being installed in Connecticut does not use the equipment being called into question in Massachusetts. There is no reason to believe that any problems exist with the equipment being installed in Connecticut, and nothing Mr Fornier said in Tuesday’s meeting indicated that problems in Massachusetts would affect Connecticut’s program, he said.

“We are very aware of what’s going on and there’s no question we are concerned,” Mr Seymour said. “We have to determine what the facts of the matter are.”

Both Mr Fornier and Agbar Vice President Christopher Stock were traveling and unavailable for immediate comment, a company secretary said.

Agbar has already had problems starting its testing program in Connecticut. The company and the state DMV pushed back a planned September start date because many service stations did not have the equipment, or were not properly trained in how to use it.

The company took full responsibility for the delay. The state said there would be no second chances for the company if it failed to meet the new deadline for implementation.

Agbar was expected to update the DMV later this week about the status of the installation efforts, Mr Seymour said.

“We are on Agbar like hawks now with the installation, and we will be on them like hawks monitoring them in terms of how this program is run in Connecticut,” Mr Seymour said.

The state has been without an emissions testing program since June 2002, when its contract with East Granby-based Envirotest Systems Corp expired.

The state refused to extend Envirotest’s contract after more than a dozen of its employees were convicted of accepting bribes to pass cars that failed the emissions test.

Last week, Agbar was sued in Washington state by a former worker at an emissions testing station there. That worker alleges she was fired by Agbar after reporting that tests were being falsified.