CLEVELAND: The unpopular E-Check vehicle emissions testing program in Northeast Ohio may be decentralized, allowing the mandatory inspections to occur at neighborhood garages and oil-change centers.The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency expects in the next few months to ask potential contractors for proposals on how they would manage a decentralized program, agency staffers Mike Riggleman and Dave Alspaugh told a subcommittee of the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency in a teleconference on Wednesday.Inspections for the Akron-Cleveland area’s 1.4 million cars and light trucks still would be free.The U.S. EPA also must sign off on the new Ohio E-Check.How many neighborhood garages and oil-change centers might be part of the expanded testing program largely will be determined by contractors, he said.But Ohio is not interested in having every small garage be part of the program, he said. One of the agency’s concerns, he added, is that decentralized testing requires more oversight and is more prone to fraud.The agency is working with a tight deadline.The new program must be in place by June under provisions of the Ohio budget bill that was passed in June by the Ohio legislature.The move to change the current E-Check program that is directed by Connecticut-based Envirotest Systems Corp. was pushed by state Sen. Tim Grendell, R-Chester Twp., and Rep. Ron Young, R-Leroy Twp.Last April, they introduced similar legislation that was later included in the 3,261-page budget bill. But the issue got little attention.Grendell and Young are longtime vocal critics of E-Check.“We cannot eliminate E-Check. I at least want to make it more convenient for vehicle owners in Ohio and less expensive to the state by decentralizing E-Check inspections,” Young said last spring in a statement.Grendell told the media that 150 to 200 garages and oil-change locations might become part of the new program in Northeast Ohio.Ohio cannot eliminate E-Check under federal Clean Air Act mandates. Summit, Portage, Medina, Cuyahoga, Lake, Lorain, Geauga and Ashtabula counties fail to comply with federal limits on ozone.Ozone is created when vehicle emissions and industrial pollutants mix in direct sunlight. It can cause breathing problems for the elderly, children and asthmatics.Because the U.S. EPA considers Northeast Ohio to be one ozone region, a bad reading in one of the eight counties affects them all. This year has been typical, with 11 bad-air days so far.Locally, the monitor at Akron’s Patterson Park has logged five problem days, Lake Rockwell in Portage County has had one, and the Chippewa monitor in Medina County had two.Vehicle tests in the Akron-Cleveland area began in 1995, along with testing in the Cincinnati-Dayton areas. The tests were dropped in 2006 in Cincinnati and Dayton.Motorists must pass the test every other year in order to get license plate stickers. The tests are now free. Previously, they cost motorists $19.50.Envirotest currently operates 23 testing centers in the seven counties. E-Check is not required in Ashtabula County.Envirotest conducts tailpipe tests with vehicles on treadmills for older vehicles (1995 and older models) and a computer checkup for newer vehicles (1996 and newer models). There is also a test for diesel cars and pickups.Ohio pays the company $11.55 million a year for the tests, EPA spokeswoman Heidi Griesmer said.Ohio would join 33 other states that have decentralized vehicle testing, Alspaugh said.That includes California, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Wisconsin, Georgia, Texas and North Carolina, he said.Ohio intends to leave the door open for contractors to make pitches, Riggleman said.There are six contractors across the country that are expected to bid on the Akron-Cleveland vehicle tests, he said.Garages and oil-change shops could add treadmills, known as dynamometers, to conduct such tests, he said.Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.