Friday, August 24, 2007

Old Cars off Streets

Texas is providing serious money to help people who own old cars as their primary modes of transportation replace them with ones that pollute less. A great idea and good thing all around.

State offering drivers up to $3,500 to ditch old cars
Terry Box, The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Morning News (Texas)
August 10, 2007


Aug. 10--Old cars and trucks in the Dallas area -- many of them little more than smoking beaters -- will get a lot more valuable beginning in December.

In an effort to improve air quality in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the state will offer up to a $3,500 bounty of sorts on vehicles that are more than 10 years old -- pre-1996 cars and trucks that emit up to 30 times as much pollution as late-model vehicles.

Owners who agree to "retire" their vehicles will get $3,000 vouchers that can be used toward buying a new car or truck or a late-model used vehicle. If they opt to buy a hybrid, they can get $3,500. The program is strictly voluntary.

"By cleaning up some of the old cars and getting them off the road, you could put a real dent in the pollution numbers," said state Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, who sponsored the "accelerated vehicle-retirement program."

The program already has funds, generated by higher vehicle state-inspection fees in the Dallas and Houston areas.

Environmentalists regularly castigate big late-model SUVs such as the Excursion and the Hummer, but the dirtiest vehicles on the road are pre-1996 cars and trucks. The older cars also tend to be driven by the working poor and others who can't afford a new car or truck.