MRF Concerned About New Noise Limits
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering lower noise limits on motorcycles and that has the Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) concerned. Part of that concern has to with the fact that the change would only apply to motorcycles. An 83 decibel (db) limit is currently in effect for all vehicles.
In a release today the MRF stated that the EPA has only sent letters requesting data to nine companies. This fact is troubling, the MRF says, for a couple of reasons.
First, it is not representative of the much larger motorcycling community that will be affected by changing the regulation, rendering the survey results questionable at best. Second, any time a federal agency wants to spend taxpayer money to survey a group of 10 or more individuals or organizations, they must obtain approval from the US Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The approval process isn’t easy and can often be drawn out, giving American citizens the right to weigh in on the agency’s application for permission to survey. However, when an agency only contacts nine organizations, they don’t have to tell anyone or get permission from the OMB to move forward on the survey, making the process lack transparency.
The MRF says it finds the focus solely on motorcycles “discriminatory and simply unacceptable” and it is “working with Congress to get the EPA to explain their intentions and motivations. The MRF is also working to meet directly with the EPA to further determine exactly is going on with this issue.”
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Let’s ban idiots, not the equipment they annoy us with.
