[Chron] Texas fighting car pollution with Car Vouchers

Voucher Program for Pre-96 Car Owners

Own an old car? State may help you replace it

AUSTIN — Low-income drivers in 16 Texas counties will soon be eligible for financial aid to replace old vehicles.

By the end of the year, the state will begin offering up to $3,500 in vouchers to replace pre-1996 vehicles, some of the heaviest polluters on the roads.

The program will be available in 14 Texas counties surrounding the Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston areas, as well as Travis and Williamson counties.

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 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 led the bill through the Legislature.

Starting in 1996, automakers equipped U.S. vehicles with more sophisticated and precise fuel-injection systems, better sensors and improved computers to meet increasingly stringent clean-air standards. In the years since, most vehicles have gotten significantly cleaner.

Averitt estimates old cars and trucks emit 20 to 30 times as much pollution as a new vehicle. Jim Marston, regional director of Environmental Defense, estimates that number is closer to 10 times as much pollution.

Vehicles must have passed a state inspection within the last 15 months to be eligible, and an owner's annual income cannot exceed $61,000. For cars that qualify, a $3,000 voucher will be issued that can be used as a down payment on a new vehicle that cannot cost more than $25,000. The voucher can also be applied to used vehicles that are no more than three model years old.

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Finally, the WNBA Houston Comets will be able to afford to buy new cars

(referring to this thread)