Denton County commissioners this week voted to spend $1 million to clean up the air in the county.

The money, which the county collects from vehicle inspection fees, will be used to replace or repair cars that don’t pass emissions tests under a program called AirCheck Texas.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Environmental Protection Agency have flagged Denton County and several others in the region as not meeting air-quality standards, so the county needed a plan to correct that problem, said Andrea Morrow of TCEQ.

Denton County chose the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan, which was established by the Legislature in 2001. The plan includes a number of voluntary financial incentive programs, as well as other assistance programs, to help improve the air quality in Texas.

AirCheck Texas takes a portion of money paid for automobile emissions tests and places it in the fund, County Judge Mary Horn said.

That fund helps people whose cars do not pass the emissions tests. The money can be used toward the repair or in some cases replacement of failing vehicles.

“It’s a way to get money to citizens to upgrade vehicles to pass emission or get a new vehicle,” Horn said.

The money can also be applied to diesel vehicles, which are exempt from emissions testing.

“Drilling companies can get some funding to upgrade diesel equipment,” Horn said.

Rather than set up a new county office to handle the money, the county and a number of other area counties contract with the North Central Texas Council of Governments to allocate funds.

“It’s a way to manage the program and get these polluting vehicles off the road,” Horn said.

BJ LEWIS can be reached at 940-566-6875. His e-mail address is blewis@dentonrc.com .