- Sometimes, the EPA is the equivalent
of that dad that gets up at 5:30 in the morning,
every Saturday morning,
to do chores that you already did during the week,
and then make it unnecessarily loud,
just so that you know that they're there.
You remember, when you were 16 or 15,
you just wanted to sleep in 'til 10:00,
but your dad, he wasn't having it, all right?
Then, you finally wake up.
They give you chores and they are set out on a mission
to make sure you know that Saturdays aren't meant to be fun.
They're meant to be work and strict focus, okay,
and discipline and structure.
Because why can kids,
why aren't they allowed to have fun, all right?
Why won't you let me just grind Runecrafting?
That's all I wanna do on a Saturday.
I'm Alex, Alex.FI on Instagram.
And today, we're bringing you a very special episode.
We're talking about the equivalent of vegetables
when we were kids.
It's the equivalent of the parent
that wouldn't let us have fun on a Saturday morning.
The association can be traced back
to the beginning of the ruiner of fun,
and the recess monitor of the car scene.
Today, we're gonna be talking about, ladies and gentlemen,
EPA's decision to try to want to take away our car parts.
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And if you're looking for aftermarket wheels,
tires, or suspension,
which is how we're able to keep up with this crazy channel,
be sure to check us out over at fitmentindustries.com,
where we quite literally have it all,
including a gallery where you can actually see what fits
with what trim specs for your year, make, and model.
Honestly, the whole reason that we're here
is because we started that thing
and we wanted to make it easy.
It's kind of why we built it,
because finding wheels that fit
is actually kind of difficult,
unless you know somebody that knows somebody
that knows somebody.
And then, it's a 10 hour thing.
You don't have to do that.
On the gallery, you just enter it in and it just tells you.
Ever since the introduction of people/life,
there's been a group of people angry at those people
for being happy, okay?
Screw their happiness.
How dare they have fun, okay?
Unlike that, they should be miserable, like me, right?
I'm talking about this group, all right?
The group that's been that way
for the car enthusiasts of the world
has almost always been the Environmental Protection Agency,
or the EPA.
Founded by Richard Nixon,
which is kind of interesting given his questionable history,
with William Ruckelshaus as EPA's first administrator.
The origins of the EPA were built around helping
with improving water treatment facilities, okay?
Air quality standards,
clean up standards for federal facilities,
waste dumping, and more.
There, now you know what they're supposed to do.
And in all honesty, the initial launch of the EPA
was pretty well warranted in the late '60s and early '70s.
Because I'm gonna tell you what, guys.
I wasn't born back then, but I saw black and white pictures.
(beep) was pretty rough.
Okay, factories, like the Alkali Works Plant,
was dumping calcium chloride
into the Holston River waterways,
causing a little bit of a breathing issue,
apparently with fish.
Okay, the Cuyahoga River literally started on fire
because of how much trash they were putting in there.
And the Potomac was dumping straight gallons of trash
into the water.
So much so that they pretty much said that if the EPA
were to get instilled, or established,
they were just gonna shut down.
They had oil spills off the coast of California.
And science was advanced enough to recognize
that people were actually passing away
due to oxygen levels being so poor in New York City
due to smog.
So, as the EPA began telling people to stop dumping crap
into the water, and strapping catalytic converters
on to everything that had a cylinder,
the world began to get a little bit cleaner.
And that's okay, we'll take that.
However, as the years progressed,
the EPA continued to expand upon attacking things
that could potentially impact the environment,
regardless of the repercussions of those changes.
There was a lot of this going on, especially in the '70s.
And if you remember,
a lot of the domestic vehicles in the '70s
got kind of trashy
because of how much the EPA was impacting them.
But, they needed to do something to clean up the waterways.
And if you followed along with EPA's battles,
you'd know that they're almost always controversial.
After all, it's an agency whose role is to tell people
what to do and then tell you what you're doing wrong.
They're like an auditor and no one likes auditors.
Nobody at all.
You can be a great person, but if you're an auditor,
people don't like you, okay?
And I'm sorry, but that's just the way that it is.
Whether it was an automotive catalytic converter situation
of the '70s, or the abandoned waste sites of the '80s,
the acid rain debacles of the '90s,
or the California injection of the 2000s,
the EPA's always been there trying to battle something out.
And now, the automotive battle of the 2010s and 2010s.
Wait a minute.
Of the 2010s and 2020s is starting to take hold.
So, why is this a big deal?
Well, because what used to be fair
is just getting a little kind of sort of unfair.
They're starting to use bots to grind out Runecrafting
instead of doing it the old fashioned way,
like teleporting to Edgeville then running through
the wildy and not getting killed.
Recently, the Environmental Protection Agency
has decided to try and sneak in stuff
through different acts.
Things like the Clean Air Act,
that a motor vehicle cannot be converted
into a racing vehicle used solely for competition.
Now, there's a lot of fancy words, all right?
But, that's pretty much the gist.
Now, we don't see for off-road use only tags,
but this is a bigger deal because it prevents
any modification for racing vehicles used in competition
whatsoever, at all.
And it's kind of confusing because of all the legal jargon
that's in there.
It's kind of freaking people out.
So, just imagine that,
just imagine stock BRZs running around Road America.
That'd be hilarious actually.
Either way, the Specialty Equipment Market Association
was extremely quick to sniff these sorts of things out
and found another opportunity here,
just about a couple months ago.
They really sniffed it out with a situation
that a lot of you now know of.
So, SEMA filed an amicus brief, okay?
Which just is a fancy document filed by people
who are taking a position on one side of a case
that's already existing.
Essentially supporting a cause
because they would also be impacted by it.
This is the thing that happened.
The EPA is going after another company called Gear Box Z.
So, SEMA filed an amicus brief with Gear Box Z.
Like your friend may submit an amicus brief to your parents
to say that they were with you at church on Sunday
when you were in fact getting wasted at the pickle
because their parents, if they found out,
you'd be grounded too.
It's kind of like, that's an amicus brief.
It's very fancy terminology to say,
"Hey, you're getting my friend in trouble.
"Don't do that."
And this isn't the first time the EPA has tried
to do something like this,
because essentially they're trying to shut down
aftermarket modifications.
In 2015, they tried to outlaw the modification
of automobiles, motorcycles, and more,
through the Clean Air Act, but were shut down by SEMA
absolutely busting doors down, which is good.
But, a lot of people say that EPA is pretty big.
So, they probably just backed down verse than got beaten.
And just like the good old days, the EPA is trying again.
Which is why we're here to talk about
what's going on with car parts and the EPA.
It's why we're done talking about the history of the EPA
and why they hate fun.
Because they honestly really don't hate fun,
they're just, they're trying their best.
But, they're auditors, right?
We're here to talk about the EPA wanting to take away
our car parts.
So, they wanna.
Tell them no, all right?
Grab your favorite laptop and register for a TikTok account
because we're about to talk about what it's like
to actually teach this old man why this is a bad idea,
and also what you can actually do to help
with situations like this.
This isn't the first time that the EPA has gone after this.
But, first off, SEMA has already made the statement
that the EPA's interpretation of the Clean Air Act
against Gear Box Z,
which is the case that's happening right now,
against that diesel truck tuner company,
which is where this truly all began, is just wrong.
EPA's previous position is that it has no interest
in vehicles being permanently converted
to sanctioned competition use vehicles,
which GBZ's devices were sold for with use-ish.
And since the EPA's interpretation of the Clean Air Act
has allowed them to play within the gray space
of fancy lawyer words,
it's always been incredibly difficult
for the aftermarket automotive industry to abide by
or establish guidelines for product development.
Because the Clean Air Act is kind of sort of saying,
"Hey, you can't do that, but if you want to, you can."
So, companies did, and now EPA's trying to say,
"No, you can't."
So, here we are, with SEMA trying to fight on behalf of GBZ,
even though the arguments aren't exactly identical.
And here's the tough part with this situation specifically.
Just like the drive.com said,
SEMA is protesting EPA's jurisdiction
of off-road emission controls.
But, the suit against GBZ and EPA
is concerned with the manufacturing of the product
in the first place,
and the fact that it doesn't even abide by that rule at all.
It's worth a fight, but not exactly an easy battle.
In fact, a lot of people don't think that SEMA or GBZ
will actually win.
So, what can you do?
Well, situations like these usually incite
some form of action, especially in the automotive industry.
So a great way to do with this is to educate yourself
and support something that allows us
to keep enjoying this crazy automotive passion
we all know and love.
This will eventually impact everything,
especially as the EPA continues to try and find ways
to snuff out things that may not be perfect
for the environment.
Now, aftermarket wheels could be deemed illegal
if they're heavier than OEM.
Not the case with Artisa ArtFormed wheels.
Ultra light wheel company that we just launched
that has deco directional design, lovely finishes,
and a passion built behind it that cares
about every step of the buying process.
Plug, baby, all right?
But, aftermarket tires that have a higher burn rate
than the boring all seasons that come on OEM vehicles
could be deemed illegal use
due to waste management and excess, I don't know, fun.
It's gonna be those sort of things,
where once you really start going through this process,
there's a lot of things that could start to become illegal.
Even with suspension because the EPA doesn't like fun.
It could impact every facet of the automotive industry.
And that's why people are really getting worked up.
Now, the suit against the GBZ company against the EPA
has opened this door.
And with SEMA trying to file the amicus brief to say,
"Hey, don't do that,"
it's drawing a lot of attention to this Clean Air Act.
So, here's what you can do.
Go check out SEMA's act that was introduced
about 2019 of December, called the Recognition,
or the Recognizing the Protection of Motorsports Act,
or RPM Act, which is actually kind of catchy,
considering what we're talking about.
The RPM Act, which is quite simply a document
that was presented to the powers that be
to protect Americans' right to convert street vehicles
into dedicated race cars,
and the motor sports parts industry ability
to sell products that enable racers to compete.
Essentially, allowing the aftermarket modification world
to stay alive.
This would allow things like superchargers, tuners,
and exhaust systems to stay in production,
to keep being made.
And this was already introduced
and it had some decent momentum when it was released,
until it was deadlocked after its introduction
in December of 2019.
It passed the House committee,
but it actually hasn't even made its way
into the House or into the Senate.
So, if it doesn't do that,
it's really not gonna do anything.
So, the biggest thing that SEMA's asking for people to do
is to go notify your elected officials
to go support the RPM Act.
Talk about it, get people to sign petitions
to get movement noise around this whole thing again.
But, if you're not of age, at least understand this video,
and help support those
that are trying to make noise about it.
That's the biggest thing that's coming down to the case
and why people are talking about car parts
getting taken away by the EPA.
Because it's not essentially saying that they're trying
to do it now.
The EPA is trying to restrict any sort of delete device
on diesel tuners because of emissions.
SEMA's saying, "Don't do that."
EPA's saying, "We're gonna do that."
And, of course, the rest of the world is freaking out
a little bit because once this door closes,
the odds of another one opening,
especially over the next couple years,
is pretty damn tall.
And if SEMA doesn't have enough fight
to get the RPM Act through,
the odds of the aftermarket modification world
staying as big and as robust as it is,
is going to get more difficult and more difficult.
So, what do you think?
Is the EPA doing the right thing
and do you wanna watch 2021 Honda CRVs
running around Road Atlanta?
Or do you think that they're out of their minds?
Let us know.
And, of course, if you're looking for aftermarket wheels,
tires, or suspension,
be sure to check us out over at fitmentindustries.com.
I'm Alex from Fitment Industries and we will see you later.
Adios.
I'm not hitting my coffee.
Not doing it again. (laughs)
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