Smog Pollution Regulation
There is no rest for the weary when trying to keep up with proposals from the Obama team. Smog causing pollutants is the next item to be considered by the EPA which seems to be the new unelected regulation team in DC.
Smog is annoying and a health threat to many Americans. No one can be against clean air. Can they? Lets check the smog pollutant history of corrective efforts by Washington.
We find that Obama’s people are mounting a charge to reduce the smog causing pollutants to somewhere between 0.060 and 0.070 parts per million.
The current requirement of 0.075 was put in place during the Bush administration to increase the requirements from the 0.084 requirements of the Clinton years.
Take a moment to follow this because there are interesting facts involved, one of which is that the Bush team was more environmentally sensitive than the Clinton group. Astonishing but I do not want to digress. Lets talk cost and effect of the smog pollutant proposals
With the Bush level there are only 322 of the 675 county monitoring stations that are in compliance. With the Obama proposal only 15 of the 675 monitoring stations would be in compliance. The cause of most of the smog comes from manufacturers, oil refiners and utilities. If continued failure to comply was the result of the Obama proposal there would be severe fines for the pollution causing entities.
The estimated cost to these emitters of smog causing pollutants for correction would be $90 billion dollars by 2020. The correction according to the Obama administration could be partially made by “new technology not yet invented”. I have some trouble getting my arms around 90 billion and technology not yet invented.
But there is the positive benefits to be considered. S. William Becker is the Executive Director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies and has taken a public stance on the issues of the $90 billion. He has stated that “ the benefits will trump the costs many times over”.
I was relieved to hear that from Bill and decided to follow up with Bill’s organization to find out where the trump cards were that would overcome the $90 billion cost. No one answered the phone in the local office of NACAA. I decided to give Bill a call in DC to see if he could direct me to where the trumping of the$90 billion with benefits would happen.
His office answered the call with courtesy and a promise of information to support Becker’s statement. Bill was on a conference call and was unavailable. Not a surprise.
There is a claim that 12,000 lives per year would be saved if a stricter standard was initiated . Lisa Jackson Administer of the EPA further stated that we would all be healthier and breath easier with the new standard that her agency is preparing to enact. If you have comments she is having 3 public hearings. Two in DC and one in Houston. The EPA feels that this will be enough to take care of any concerns that are raised by their proposal
It’s hard to argue about easier breathing and saving 12,00 lives per year or even per decade. There are however, a few question that need to be answered.
If one of the economic questions of the moment in our Nation involves all the jobs leaving America for countries more welcoming, what will the effect of this regulation have on manufacturing in America? If gasoline production is having problems because of refinery capacity deficiency what will this do to gasoline availability and prices?. Utilities are part of the identified problem and will need to spend billions to pay for the yet to be invented technology to meet the challenge presented by Lisa Jackson and her agency. How will the cost of electric and heat for homes be affected?
I’m waiting for a call or email from Bill to help me suss out these issues. Maybe I should give Lisa a call. These folks are so dedicated to my breathing, I’m sure that they have figured out how I’m going to pay the rent, heat and gasoline costs after they initiate their proposal. With Obama’s team working on issues maybe continued breathing won’t be an issue. I think I’d better revise lifestyle expectations and check out tents, wood fires and a bicycle.
Whoops! The wood fire will not work. Too many smog causing pollutants. Maybe Bill will have a suggestion. The yet un-invented technology might be a home sized nuclear heating system.
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