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Even More Change That George Can Believe In
Topic Started: Jan 25 2009, 06:20 PM (561 Views)
Kincaid
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HOLY CARP!!!
Except that for years California was entirely on their own. Then more recently a few states signed on w/them. There was still a small enough market for those vehicles that the automakers would put out California-compliant and non-California-compliant vehicles. I think only after Bush was elected did all 13 states join with California and Bush has held them back from implementing the regulations. As long as they were held back the automakers continued with business as usual regarding emissions requirements. Now most likely the automakers will just put out one vehicle - California compliant.

Again, is this good or bad? I don't know.
Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006.
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Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
I understand the conservative thinking on this, but I have to tell you.. California did an AMAZING job of cleaning up air pollution, at least where I used to live in the San Gabriel Valley, the near eastern suburbs of LA.

I lived on the upslope of nearly 6K ft tall mountains. The summit was about 8 miles from my house as the crow flies, so in clear air they dominated the view. In the late 70's they just flat disappeared in the warmer weather - obscured by a thick pollution layer of greyish white. I have been out there off and on over the years, and the air there now in the summer is clear as a bell, which it NEVER was then.

They are doing something right, and as pollution and smog worsen in all our cities, maybe we ought to take notice.
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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Kincaid
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HOLY CARP!!!
First, is pollution really worsening in "all our cities"? I still think we are going about it wrong. I can't imagine that with current pollution controls that it is manufacturing that would be causing any worsening smog. Aren't we being told that manufacturing is all going overseas? How can it be getting worse overall? So, doesn't that just leave us with autos? If so, pollution emissions on new cars has been fantastically low for years now. It seems that the overwhelming amount of pollution is coming from so-called "gross polluters", those old vehicles, usually old enough that they aren't required to pass any DEQ tests, that just belch out particulates and other fumes. Congress and the EPA continually push stricter laws on new vehicle emissions rather than getting rid of gross-polluters.
Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006.
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Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
Air quality sure is worse where I live.
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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Kincaid
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HOLY CARP!!!
This article is from 2001, but I think the examples still hold.

Quote:
 
On this same staircase, the much reviled Excursion is equivalent to an average new car in 1997.

If the ethical measure of your car comes down to "How clean is your exhaust?" then we should compare SUV emissions with those of all the other passenger haulers already on the road. Donald Stedman, of the University of Denver, is the expert here. He's generally credited with inventing the drive-by emissions-measuring device called the "remote sensor," and he's spent the past dozen years observing how ordinary cars pollute in their everyday driving.

He used to say that 10 percent of the cars put out 50 percent of the pollution; those are the poorly maintained stinkers like the Times's Chevy Sprint. When I called him for this discussion, he said today, around Denver (which has a smog inspection similar to California's), he finds that 50 percent of the pollution comes from just five percent of the cars. This derelict group at the dirty end of the fleet, he said, starts with gross polluters that each put out 40 to 50 times the emissions of a new car, and it gets worse from there. The sorriest one percent, he said, spews one-third of all auto emissions. If there's an ethics problem, it's the owners who don't repair their current cars.

The obvious conclusion from all this will make the enviros grind their teeth. The air in America would be vastly cleaner if everyone replaced his or her current ride with a brand-new "Incredible Hulk" Ford Excursion.


Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006.
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Kincaid
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HOLY CARP!!!
From an article in 2000.

Quote:
 
The American Automobile Association, for example, recently released a report declaring that car and light-truck emissions account for less than 24 percent of smog in major cities, down from 40 percent in 1970. This is a particularly impressive reduction because we roll up about two and a half times more miles every year than we used to.

Oddly enough, this heartening news has not moved Carol Browner, the EPA administrator and Gore acolyte, to announce a hearty "well done" to all involved. Instead, she continues to preach doom and gloom from her environmental pulpit while issuing proposals for ever more draconian emissions regulations.

Unfortunately, half of all auto pollution is generated by just 10 percent of the vehicles--those that are in the worst condition. Stricter new-car tailpipe emissions standards do not deal with that problem at all. To address this problem a few years back, Browner's EPA tried to impose expensive annual vehicle inspections. But they were so inconvenient--and also so ineffective--that they never really stuck. Strangely, the EPA has shown little interest in drive-by emissions sensors that could identify the gross polluters on the road without bothering those driving well-maintained cars. Now that statistics have proven that speed doesn't kill, perhaps the legions of traffic cops could lay down their radar guns in favor of these emissions sensors. If there's money in the pollution tickets, I'm sure that America's police departments would quickly see the merits of the program.
Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006.
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brenda
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..............
Mikhailoh
Jan 26 2009, 03:15 PM
Air quality sure is worse where I live.
So poor air quality seems to be following you, Mik. Is there something we need to know?
“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.”
~A.A. Milne
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Kincaid
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HOLY CARP!!!
Has the trend reversed since 2004? Back then the EPA said air quality was the best ever since 1970.

http://www.edcmag.com/Articles/Industry_News/7b42db719c697010VgnVCM100000f932a8c0____
Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006.
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Frank_W
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Resident Misanthrope
Mik, you haven't even had any of my chili, dude! :lol2:
Anatomy Prof: "The human body has about 20 sq. meters of skin."
Me: "Man, that's a lot of lampshades!"
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Kincaid
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HOLY CARP!!!
From 2002. Geez it's hard to find current stuff.

Quote:
 
According to an analysis by Energy and Environmental Analysis, Inc. (EEA) of data supplied by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Energy Information Agency (EIA), since 1970 overall energy consumption in the United States grew by 41 percent, population grew 38 percent (to 281 million) and employment grew 70 percent to 134 million, annual vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) grew 148 percent to 2.7 trillion miles, and Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew 158 percent, to $9.224 trillion.

Yet there was a the dramatic reduction in five of the Clean Air Act's six identified criteria pollutants since 1970:

Airborne lead emissions dropped 98 percent.
Particulate matter (PM-10) emissions dropped 75 percent.
Volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions, which cause smog, dropped 42 percent.
Sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions dropped 39 percent.
And carbon monoxide (CO) emissions dropped 28 percent.

Only nitrogen oxide (NOX) emissions have risen since 1970, although the increase has been far less than economic, employment or VMT growth.
Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006.
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Kincaid
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HOLY CARP!!!
This is an interesting link:

http://www.epa.gov/airtrends/

You can find local air quality trends here, Mik.

Which I found in this interesting article:

http://planetgore.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZDNiNDIyODI0NTdiMjRlY2UyMTYxMmRiY2YyMzk4ZWY=
Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006.
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Kincaid
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HOLY CARP!!!
Well, this seems to say that at least nationally, air pollution continues to decline.

http://www.epa.gov/airtrends/sixpoll.html
Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006.
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Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
brenda
Jan 26 2009, 03:23 PM
Mikhailoh
Jan 26 2009, 03:15 PM
Air quality sure is worse where I live.
So poor air quality seems to be following you, Mik. Is there something we need to know?
We got a Democratic senator.
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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QuirtEvans
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I Owe It All To John D'Oh
Mikhailoh
Jan 26 2009, 05:31 PM
brenda
Jan 26 2009, 03:23 PM
Mikhailoh
Jan 26 2009, 03:15 PM
Air quality sure is worse where I live.
So poor air quality seems to be following you, Mik. Is there something we need to know?
We got a Democratic senator.
You got a Democratic Senator, so Bush sent you pollution?
It would be unwise to underestimate what large groups of ill-informed people acting together can achieve. -- John D'Oh, January 14, 2010.
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Mikhailoh
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If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
No. He insists on coming back to the state.
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
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