EPA gives NH thumbs-up for ending car inspections

It seems increasingly likely that New Hampshire drivers who have scraped the inspection decal off their car windshields won’t have to replace it.

The Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday it is proposing to speed up actions that would legalize New Hampshire’s decision last January to end the state’s car-inspection program.

That’s not necessarily the end of the story, since a Wilton woman has sued over the end of the car inspections, citing air pollution and its effect on people’s breathing, a lawsuit that has drawn support from the manufacturer of the equipment used in those inspections. But odds are that New Hampshire lawmakers’ decision to end the state program, despite violating federal law, will stick.

This week, the EPA proposed to grant New Hampshire’s petition to withdraw from the Ozone Transport Region and to approve the state’s request to remove its Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance program from the State Implementation Plan.

The move would speed up the process, which normally can take 18 months. If it goes through, New Hampshire would no longer be in violation of the Clean Air Act.

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The Ozone Transport Region, which covers most of the Northeast, was established under the Clean Air Act to reduce ground-level ozone, a major pollutant, through inspections of vehicle exhaust. The State Implementation Plan is an overarching program to ensure that states met air quality standards under the federal act.

Last year, the state legislature and Gov. Kelly Ayotte passed a law ending annual car inspections as of January 2026 without getting EPA permission to back out of the Clear Air Act requirements. That led to a lawsuit from Kentucky-based company Gordon-Darby, which makes the inspection equipment. The company has since dropped its suit.

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