The EPA slapped every gear head, every auto shop, and every aftermarket parts supplier in the face last month with their asinine proposal to make using most aftermarket parts on street cars illegal. This proposal would wipe out a $1.4 billion dollar industry, a past time, and a lifestyle for so many. The good new is, people reacted, and quickly! However, SEMA isn’t going to let the EPA get away with continuing with any kind of mess like this.
The SEMA Action Network put out the word of the nasty actions coming from the EPA, and the community was not happy about it. As we pointed out on our story here, this industry employs 4.2 million people. So, even those who aren’t really into the past time saw that the economic impact of causing 4.2 million people to lose their jobs would be catastrophic. The reaction was swift, and it took less than 24 hours to get their White House petition against the EPA to meet its goal of 100,000 signatures.
Without protection against these proposed EPA actions, and future ones like it, the industry will be shut down. Along with it, all of our weekends at the track, all of the conversations we have while standing over our engine bays at car shows, all of the times we spend in the garage with our friends and family, that’s all at risk! Don’t excuse this, don’t think that it ‘could never happen’, it is an imminent risk of actually happening, and it’s a collective responsibility of the community to stop it. Can you stomach the thought of never being able to pull the step ladder over to your car to show your kids or grandkids what you’re wrenching on? We can’t.
Now the administration has heard our collective voices, we need protection against incidents like this in the future. The RPM Act is set to protect street vehicles from the scope of the Clean Air Act. This act would use congressional intervention to allow people to keep modifying their street cars. Tell congress to support the RPM Act by signing the petition here. We’ll keep you updated, and you can also follow the hashtags from SEMA, #saveourracecars and #rpmact2016, to see what people are talking about.
Elizabeth is a hardcore horsepower enthusiast with unmatched intensity for making things faster and louder. She wakes up for power and performance and only sleeps to charge up for the next project that’s heading to the track. From autocross to drag racing, Elizabeth is there with you, so stay tuned for her unique perspective on horsepower news, builds, tech info, and installs — with her, it’ll never be boring!
