Stricter new smog limit would hit rural areas, too - Yahoo! News
I would bet the pass/fail standards will be lowered significantly here in CA.
I especially like the part about wildfires.
Once again the Federal government is over stepping its boundaries in an attempt to smash our balls.
I love this part: "The tighter standards, though costly to implement, will ultimately save billions in avoided emergency room visits, premature deaths, and missed work and school days, the EPA said."
I'd like to see what kind of fuzzy math they used to come up with this nonsense. You know of all the health problems facing Americans today I would venture to say that those with smog as a contributing factor are probably relatively few in the grand scheme of things, i.e. asthmatics. Furthermore, other diseases that I would think would be affected had lifestyle choices that were the main contributing factor like COPD and things like that.
And then the question is, at what point are these diseases really affected by such small amounts of pollution as the average ppm that the epa limits areas to or are these diseases aggravated by localized areas that far exceed the epa limits because of extenuating factors.
Nevermind the unconstitutionality of the federal government strong arming the states in an area where it does not have the power to regulate.
And when the states do attempt to clamp down on emissions they are beholden to special interests that see to it that the laws are written in a way to maximize PROFITS instead of protecting freedom.
Take for instance the CARB E.O. process, we actually have SEMA and big companies like EDELBROCK et al. to thank for that one. How perfectly convenient that the companies that helped draft that kind of legislation are also the only ones that can realistically comply with the outrageously costly certification process. Shrewd business move there.
The other example is the test only lobby which needs no further elaboration.
I don't think we live in a free country anymore Tom.
BTW hopefully I'll see you guys when I get back from Japan sometime. I hope all is well.
