Texas On-Road Remote Sensing Program
In the late 1990s, Texas was facing expansion of its I/M program due to worsening air quality and a non-attainment reclassification by the U.S. EPA. A decentralized two-speed idle I/M program was active in several counties. Instead of expanding the program into outlying counties in each metropolitan area, the Texas Department of Public Safety used three RSD3000s to collect over 3 million measurements annually and identify high-emitters among the commuting fleet that were contributing disproportionately to air quality in the core metropolitan areas.
These “commuter polluters” would be notified and subject to the core county I/M test. This program survived for over three years, but Texas once again came under pressure to expand its I/M network and, this time, upgrade to an ASM test. ESP began operating the Texas on-road remote sensing program in December 2001. The on-road remote sensing program is aimed at:
-Identification of commuter polluters.
-Raising public awareness.
-Deterring vehicle tampering and fraudulent inspections.
The new remote sensing program grew to focus on more than commuter polluters. By 2004, it became a comprehensive on-road testing program that included identification of core I/M area high emitters and fleet evaluation in an I/M area that would gradually expand from 4 to 15 counties.
Today, ESP collects over 7 million measurements (about 2 million measurements of unique vehicles) within 17 core counties, including two in metropolitan Austin. High emitters registered with the 17 core counties as well as frequent “commuter polluters” from 28 additional surrounding counties are screened with seven RSDs that operate from dawn to dusk.
The program has strict 20% fleet coverage requirements in each of the 17 counties and requires high emitters to be notified of the need for an off-cycle inspection within 30 days. ESP provides the Texas Department of Public Safety a turnkey service that:
-Collects measurements on-road.
-Processes and maintains all records in a secure database.
-Regularly selects the highest emitters for TX DPS review.
-Sends approximately 400 registered notices to high emitters each month.
Over the life of this program, using remote sensing technology, ESP has successfully customized our system to accommodate the changing needs for Texas.