Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 16, 1994 TAG: 9403160121
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOE COCCARO LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
The state wants to clear the air, too.
If the commonwealth can come up with the cash, it may pay the not-so-proud owners of pre-1982 polluting heaps, rust buckets and clunkers $700 or $800 to get the cars off the road.
Acting on the direction of the General Assembly, the state Department of Environmental Quality began this week to pursue a junker-buyout program.
But before the program can get rolling, the department must find $1 million to begin funding it, said David Kinsey, a department policy analyst steering the proposal.
"Make sure people understand this is a voluntary program," Kinsey said. "Nobody is going to come and take anybody's car."
The intent is to rid Virginia roads of older vehicles that exceed air emission standards.
Cars and trucks built before 1982 make up about 20 percent of the 4 million vehicles registered in Virginia, yet they produce about 50 percent of the total automobile air pollution.
Just how the program will work is unclear. But here is some of the department's thinking:
The owners of qualifying junkers would surrender them to auto dealers or salvage yards. In exchange, they would receive a $700 to $800 voucher they could put toward buying a newer vehicle.
There's one other hitch: Only registered vehicles in use would be eligible, Kinsey said.
by CNB