Today, the automotive-enthusiast press went into a collective tizzy over a press release sent out by the Specialty Equipment Manufacturer’s Association. In it, SEMA shed light on a previously unpublicized bit of wording buried within a giant, 629-page proposal drafted by the EPA in July of 2015.
“EPA Seeks to Prohibit Conversion of Vehicles Into Racecars,” SEMA’s headline reads. But the reality of the legislation is a lot more nuanced than that.
EPA spokeswoman Laura Allen released the following statement on the recently-uncovered EPA language:

People may use EPA-certified motor vehicles for competition, but to protect public health from air pollution, the Clean Air Act has?since its inception?specifically prohibited tampering with or defeating the emission-control systems on those vehicles. The proposed regulation that SEMA has commented on does not change this longstanding law, or approach. Instead, the proposed language in the Heavy-Duty Greenhouse Gas rulemaking simply clarifies the distinction between motor vehicles and nonroad vehicles such as dirt bikes and snowmobiles. Unlike motor vehicles?which include cars, light trucks, and highway motorcycles?nonroad vehicles may, under certain circumstances, be modified for use in competitive events in ways that would otherwise be prohibited by the Clean Air Act.
EPA is now reviewing public comments on this proposal.

In other words, the wording included in the bill, and highlighted by SEMA, is not a...