The federal government lifted the ban in July after the state approved a plan to reduce emissions, putting more emphasis on mass transit and agreeing to test emissions on almost all cars every year, instead of every two years.
Senator John McKinney, a Republican from Southport, said if the state fired Agbar it would be likely to hire another company to continue testing emissions.
Sustainable themes: Environment testing, emissions verification for carbon trading, water quality.
The new test reads emission data from a computer in the automobile and will replace what is known as the tailpipe test, where actual emissions are measured.
Assessment included visual acuity (VA) testing, otoacoustic emission (OAE) and pure tone audiometry (PTA) testing, and a physical examination.
The machines are supposed to test the emissions of a vehicle running near the speed limit.
The state's action does not affect a second contract with Envirotest, for a separate program to test vehicle emissions.
The group agreed to invest a mid-six-figure amount to pay for a prototype to test auto emissions.
Interventions: Neuropsychologic testing, positron-emission tomography (PET), and single-photon emission-computed tomography (SPECT).
Earlier testing monitored emissions directly from the tailpipe.
