Sound of Silence

Over a year ago the EPA began a series of public hearings on proposed noise limits for motorcycles. The EPA proposal was very stringent, so stringent that most large displacement air-cooled Twins could never hope to meet the standard. To support the arbitrary numbers the EPA scheduled one of the three public hearings in the retirement community of St. Petersburg, Florida, and contracted with local people to drum up support for motorcycle noise controls.

SOUND OF SILENCE

Things didn’t exactly work out as they were planned by the EPA. Most of the public testimony received by the EPA opposed the regulations. Then there were differences of opinion within the ranks and Project Coordinator Scott Edwards left for another job within the federal bureaucracy, leaving a besieged Hank Thomas holding the bag of complaints. A final recommendation from the EPA was due the first part of this year, but in testimony before the House subcommittee on transportation and commerce, EPA Assistant Administrator David Hawkins told the congressmen a final recommendation would be delayed at least a year.

The delay is both good news and bad. It means the products consumers want to buy won’t be affected as soon. Now the EPA estimates the proposed regulations would cost consumers $224 million per year, up from the original $200 million. But it also means the manufacturers can’t begin designing equipment to standards that haven’t been delivered when promised.

Wonder what the EPA would do if motorcycle manufacturers missed their schedule by the same amount as EPA? 13