Utah sued over natural gas car rules

A Taylorsville motorist who drives an SUV equipped to run on either gasoline or compressed natural gas is suing the state in an effort to block new safety rules that will increase the costs of conversion to the clean fuel.

Randy Lieber joined companies that sell both conversion kits and vehicles in suing Department of Public Safety Commissioner Lance Davenport and the Utah Safety Inspection Advisory Board over the rule change, which was published in the state's safety inspection manual this week. The rule requires inspectors to flunk Utah cars on safety checks if their CNG components are not certified by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

It's a rule that runs counter to the state's goal of cleaning up the air, said Lieber, who drives a converted Chevrolet Suburban.

"This is important stuff," he said Tuesday. "It's the right thing to do. It's critical for our country and for our state."

He declined to discuss specifics of the legal dispute, but his Salt Lake City lawyer said it hinges on a safety rule that has nothing to do with safety.

EPA certification relates to pollution, attorney James McIntyre said, and is not an appropriate measure of safety. Even those converted cars that are not EPA-certified pollute far less than most gasoline-powered cars, he said, so there's no reason to penalize people who convert cars without paying thousands extra for the certification.

Tanks used in thousands of conversions to date were tested for safety by the U.S. Department of Transportation, McIntyre said, though many don't meet the new requirement.

"DOT makes them go through some testing that no automobile gas tank could possibly go through," he said. "They shoot them with guns [and] subject them to a bonfire."

Assistant Utah Attorney General Robert Morton said he was reviewing the complaint after receiving it this week and could not comment.

Department of Public Safety spokesman Jeff Nigbur said the new rule follows the Safety Inspection Advisory Board's recommendation. It comes after an incident in which a gas valve on an uncertified conversion kit was improperly installed and endangered a family by leaking into the vehicle, he said.

Getting EPA certification is costly for manufacturers, McIntyre said. It requires a separate expense for testing kits to convert every model, and another fee for each subsequent model year. It can add $10,000 or even $20,000 to the cost of converting a single vehicle that may not have been worth that much from the start, he said.

"People just aren't going to do that," he said.

The gas-leak incident also worried Utah Clean Cities Coalition Director Robin Erickson. She and other advocates recommend streamlining the EPA certification and thereby making it cheaper.

"We have to understand where [the state is] coming from," Erickson said. "They're concerned about safety." At the same time, she said, there are valid issues in the lawsuit.