REPORT: EPA declares greenhouse gases a public danger, may be preamble to new emissions laws
According to the Detroit News, the Environmental Protection Agency has taken a likely step towards stricter emissions standards, as it has asked the White House Office of Management and Budget to declare greenhouse gas a public danger. California, along with several other states, is looking to enact tough new CO2 laws that will drastically limit the emissions of new cars and trucks. Automakers are against the idea, as they argue that the technology isn't currently available in large scale to meet the proposed targets, let alone while the industry is cash poor. The Obama administration wants Congress to take swift action to regulate CO2 emissions, a move that could cost automakers ranging from Ford and GM to Honda and Toyota billions of dollars.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Vice President William Kovacs says the California plan "could damage automakers." Kovacs points out that GM and Chrysler are already receiving federal loans to stay afloat, the sunshine state wants to "put more holes" into the sinking ships. If California does win the right to demand stricter CO2 standards, it will be interesting to see if the regulations involve pollutants outside the auto industry. In 2006, cars, trucks, and big rigs only account for 24% of our nation's greenhouse pollution and 4% of the world's overall.
[Source: Detroit News | Image: David McNew/Getty]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Swede 10:32AM (3/25/2009)
LOL "only" 4% overall.
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Metar 10:40AM (3/25/2009)
Yeah. 4% of the world total is quite a bit, considering it's just cars in the USA. It's also a significant bit of the US output.
Stricter US emissions will mean stricter EU regulations, and almost nobody produces cars that comply to neither of these two - the main markets. That'll be far, far more than 4%.
superman211 10:59AM (3/25/2009)
OH NO! More govt regulations that will take away more and more of our freedoms.
Everything that they pull on us is ether to fight terrorism or global warming.
BOTH ARE SHAMS!
david 11:12AM (3/25/2009)
Superman, while I definitely agree that both are used to remove our freedoms, at least there are plenty of experiments and actual events showing that bullets and explosions actually DO kill people.
What happens when we get to the point that they start saying that we need to start regulate breathing? Oh, wait, they'll just start saying we need to "reduce" the population.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5950442.ece
Regardless of cause, these people are extremists.
why not the LS2LS7? 11:47AM (3/25/2009)
Great straw man argument there david. Make up an argument yourself, then rail against it as typical of those you oppose.
Taylor. Yes, Taylor. 2:14PM (3/25/2009)
@Metar
"Yeah. 4% of the world total is quite a bit, considering it's just cars in the USA. It's also a significant bit of the US output."
Are you sure that number is US only? The first number obviously is, but from just reading this summary there is no indication that that's what they meant. It actually sounds like they mean that worldwide, cars only pollute 4%, which would mean basically that other countries have much dirtier factories, etc. I'm not sure which way it is, but don't get ahead of yourself in assuming more than this article says.
-Taylor
epwolfram 10:41AM (3/25/2009)
Global warming is a hard sell in the upper midwest, where it is under 40 degrees half the year.
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superman211 11:00AM (3/25/2009)
It would be even harder if people looked and saw that it was untrue and had no factual basis anywhere.
KA 2:16PM (3/25/2009)
Global warming is climate change, not weather change. Pointing at cold regions and going "LOL WHERE'S YOUR GLOBAL WARMING" is a pretty uninformed position. It's unfortunate that people don't bother learning what they're arguing about before arguing them.
Avinash machado 10:40AM (3/25/2009)
I think maybe it is time that California seceded and became another country.
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MikeW 11:53AM (3/25/2009)
No, it is time for the states to get together and declare the federal government as illegitimate. Assert your 9th Amendment rights.
Have the states assert their 10th Amendment rights.
What does it take, 2/3rds of the states to dissolve the federal government? 34 out of 50 .
So tell them to turn off the lights, return the keys, and shut the door when they leave.
The new capital of the US should be as far away from the district of criminals as possible. How about Kansas?
Jake B 1:35PM (3/25/2009)
South Carolina's secession effort has Stephen Colbert.
shoe007 10:46AM (3/25/2009)
sounds like cars are the "whipping boy" again.
Furthermore what is the use of tightening US regulations (where vehicles are already cleaner than most of the world) without putting pressure on everyone else.
We already don't build much ourselves, which means we buy a lot from others. Why don't we use that buying power to create an even playing field.
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John 7:44PM (3/25/2009)
shoe, It doesn't matter that we don't build a lot of things in North America. What matters is that we have wealth, and declaring CO2 as a pollutant will lead to Cap and Tax and poverty in North America. When we are poor and powerless, then the other shoe will drop.
Don't believe me. Open your mind and do some reading here:
http://www.green-agenda.com/
castgli 10:42AM (3/25/2009)
Isn't Florida the sunshine state?
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Mike 2:13PM (3/25/2009)
Yes we are
jeff 10:42AM (3/25/2009)
ya seriously, when the cars and trucks of 4% of the world population are contributing 4% of global GHG emissions, it's not "only". That means if everybody got around like in the US, transportation alone would account for equivalent to 100% of today's global GHG.
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John 6:58PM (3/25/2009)
Jeff, There are a few errors in your math. CO2 is far less than 1% of the total GHG. Water vapor is 96%. Even if the Global Warming Alarmists and Environmentalists got there way and 80% of the world population "went away" and took their cars and stomachs with them, there would be negligible change in GHG.
Don't believe me? Here are some options.
1. Call me names. This is the favorite approach of alarmists.
2. Quote Al Gore or the UN IPCC report.
3. Wave the Mann Hockey Stick Chart at me.
or
4. Open your mind and do some reading here http://icecap.us/index.php
If you still believe in the Global Warming Scam, then find one single peer- reviewed scientific paper that shows how CO2 warms the planet.
If you find one, you are a better man than Al Gore who has never found one no matter how many times he has been challenged to do so.
Get it? It's a hoax. All it will do is tax you into poverty.
Greenhouse Gas my A$$. CO2 is our Friend
John 10:42AM (3/25/2009)
It's better the Fed does this with one uniform regulation than every state proposing it's own standard.
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John 7:03PM (3/25/2009)
No it is not John.
It is better that California continue along it's way into economic ruin and the rest of the western world learns from them before it is too late.