SteveLaRiviere
Administrator Posts: 48752
From: Saco, Maine
Registered: May 99
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posted 11-11-2005 05:53 PM
 
Big brother is trying to take over again:Legislation
Hobbyists May Be Banned From Buying Paint
If you're planning on refinishing your car somewhere down the line, you might want to think about buying your paint today.
Addressing the Collision Industry Conference on November 1, 2005, held at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Los Vegas in conjunction with the SEMA show, EPA Environmental Protection Surface Coating Specialist Kim Teal outlined some of her agency's plans for their next air-pollution rule from automotive surface coating.
The last version of this rule, issued in February, 2004, was focused primarily on bodyshops, but the new regulations, scheduled for release in 2007 and adoption in August, 2011, are far more sweeping.
"The rule will impact everyone, no matter how much you use," she is reported as saying in Automotive Body Repair News. That may have a major effect on the hobby, as "the rule will attempt to restrict sales of paint to people who are not certified users."
This language has some powerful support. In a letter to Teal dated October 26, 2005,representatives from the Automotive Service Association (ASA) and National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), recommended steps that sound uncannily like Teal's remarks just a few days later.
The letter, which suggests measures to be incorporated in the proposed rule, suggests that "Prospective purchasers and users of automotive refinishing products would need to be employed by a certified shop...Clearly, reasonable controls on the purchase and use of automotive refinishing products is key to helping eliminate unnecessary VOC emissions..."
We'll let you draw your own conclusions about the EPA's, ASA��s and NADA's intentions, but if there was ever a piece of car-related legislation about which to write your legislator, this is it. Kim Teal's contact information can be found at www.epa.gov and your legislators at www.senate.gov and www.house.gov. The original letter from ASA and NADA is available at www.asashop.org.
- By David B. Traver Adolphus
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