Base drivers must certify compliance with Bernalillo County emission testing requirements

  • Published
  • By 377th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  Beginning in August, drivers on base will be required to certify they are in compliance with vehicle inspection and maintenance programs, specifically emissions testing.

Federal employees, both active duty military members and civil servants, received an email July 7 with information on the upcoming Employee vehicle-Certification and Reporting System, or ECARS, the online system that will be used for certification. Starting in August 2014, employees will start receiving emails from ECARS, requesting self-certification be accomplished within 30 days.

ECARS helps the base be in compliance with the Federal Clean Air Act, which mandates federal facilities to require all federal employees who operate motor vehicles on the facility to furnish proof of compliance with the applicable requirements of local inspection programs.

"Compliance with this CAA requirement had previously been accomplished through the issuance of base decals," said Melissa Clark, Kirtland Installation Support Team air program manager. "ECARS is the new self-certification program being used to show compliance with the CAA requirements."

Clark said ECARS is a "wizard-like tool" that will guide employees through a short process to certify compliance.

"The ECARS self-certification process takes less than five minutes," she said.

The requirement is not applicable to contractors or individuals seeking temporary "visitor" registration. Employees who drive on base less than 60 days per year are not required to supply vehicle information, but are required to self-certify annually in ECARS.

Federal employees will be required to self-certify in ECARS regardless of where their vehicle is registered. Employees living outside of Bernalillo County must obtain an emission test for their vehicle to meet this requirement. Employees living in Bernalillo County should already have an emissions test as part of the vehicle registration process with the State of New Mexico. A passed emissions test from an equivalent I/M program within the United States will be accepted at Kirtland AFB, as long as it is less than two years old.

Federal employees who are members of the bargaining unit have been given 90 extra days to comply with this requirement. Although bargaining unit employees will receive multiple auto-generated email reminders from the ECARS system, they will have until Oct. 6 to comply with the requirement.

There are specific vehicle types and model years that are exempt from the requirement, and those exemptions are built into the ECARS program. The exemptions include new vehicles for the first four years, 2007 model year and older diesel vehicles, all vehicles that are 35 years old or older, and motorcycles. There are other specific exemptions that are listed in ECARS.

At the end of the process, employees will digitally sign AF Form 4434 to serve as record of their self-certification. False statements may subject employees to criminal prosecution, Clark said.

Re-certification will occur annually on the anniversary of initial certification for those employees driving less than 60 days per year, or upon expiration of an employee's emission certificate for those driving at least 60 days per year (usually two years).

Email kirtlandairquality@us.af.mil or call Andria Cuevas at 846-2522 or Clark at 853-1588 for additional information. More information on ECARS, including frequently asked questions and a description of testing exemptions, can be found at the Kirtland eDASH page at https://cs1.eis.af.mil/sites/edash-ins3/kirtland/ under the topic "ECARS."