In 1990's Clean Air Act Amendments, Congress acknowledged that the time had come for the U.S. to get serious about controlling automobile pollution, and that reductions in vehicle miles traveled, as well as in grams of pollution per mile, would be necessary to attain and maintain air quality standards. Yet in New Jersey's most recent plan for meeting pollution targets in the Clean Air Act, submitted to the EPA for approval in December, the state "shifts the burden of emission reduction away from highway vehicle control programs." NJ has failed repeatedly to implement an enhanced vehicle inspection and maintenance program, has abandoned a program of "transportation control measures" adopted in 1993 and recently decommissioned the high occupancy vehicle lanes on I-80 and I-287.

All of New Jersey's backpedaling regarding vehicle pollution should have landed the State in deep trouble. Last April, the EPA imposed a "conformity freeze," which prevented the North Jersey Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) from adopting a new transportation plan, as a result of the inspection and maintenance program delays. Yet the MPO escaped the more debilitating "conformity lapse" status and will soon recover its ability to approve projects and plans once a new clean air plan New Jersey submitted in December is approved. The EPA is expected to approve the plan later this month.

When Governor Whitman abolished HOV lanes on I-287 and I-80 last fall, the Federal Highway Administration responded by requiring the State to show that the action would not interfere with air quality plans by making a new "conformity determination" by March of 1999. The North Jersey MPO approved that determination at a special meeting on March 29th. Yet lack of an approved air quality plan made meeting the FHWA deadline impossible, principally because the federal court decision on conformity matters prohibits MPOs from using a proposed (as opposed to an adopted) air quality plan, such as New Jersey now has, as the basis for a conformity determination.

As a result, FHWA will declare North Jersey to be in a conformity lapse in earnest this week so that other sections of the recent court ruling will now kick in and will prevent many programmed transportation projects from moving forward. Once again, however, no serious consequences are likely, because when new ozone plan is approved later this month, FHWA will presumably rescind the lapse.

In an article entitled "North Jersey's air OK despite end of HOV," the Bergen Record incorrectly reported that the MPO's determination had "found that the region's air quality continues to meet federal requirements." In fact, the entire New York metropolitan area is classified as a "severe" ozone non-attainment region, and compliance with current federal air quality standards is not on the horizon.

New Jersey could avoid these headaches altogether by doing something real to reduce vehicular travel. Instead, this week, New Jersey's transportation and environmental protection commissioners promoted construction of yet another highway - Route 92.