Today the EPA announced that California and 16 other states will not be allowed to make their own laws governing greenhouse gas emissions, because “The Bush administration is moving forward with a clear national solution, not a confusing patchwork of state rules.” California’s robot leader of the future and erstwhile killing machine promptly announced that California will be suing the federal government, and in a press conference today said that “It’s another example of the administration’s failure to treat global warming with the seriousness that it actually demands.”
Want more quotes? President Bush said today, in defense of the EPA’s decision, “Is it more effective to let each state make a decision as to how to proceed in curbing greenhouse gases? Or is it more effective to have a national strategy?” Okay, that doesn’t add much to the discussion, so we’ll go back to Schwarzenegger:
“It is disappointing that the federal government is standing in our way and ignoring the will of tens of millions of people across the nation,” Mr. Schwarzenegger said. “We will continue to fight this battle.”He added, “California sued to compel the agency to act on our waiver, and now we will sue to overturn today’s decision and allow Californians to protect our environment.”
California’s plan would be slightly more aggressive than the new energy bill signed by the President on Wednesday—California would require results by 2016 instead of 2020, and has more specific demands regarding fuel efficiency. The New York Times says the EPA’s decision has “provoked a heated debate over its scientific basis and whether political pressure was applied by the automobile industry to help it escape the proposed California regulations.”
“Schwarzenegger: California will sue federal government” [CNN]
“E.P.A. Says 17 States Can’t Set Emission Rules” [New York Times]
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@hotrodmetal:
Yes, but *your* solution is to stick your head in the sand until it is too late.
There’s a breaking point, you know. Your suggestion seems to be that we wait until it is no longer possible to do anything about the human impact on the earth’s climate, and *then* start thinking about solutions.
The longer we wait, the more intensely painful it becomes, much like cancer. If you excise a tumor early, you can avoid death. If you ‘wait and see what happens,’ it spreads until no treatment in the world can help you.
Darn you for being so reasonable!
My solution is simple: Consume Less. Put the system on trial. Localize your community: This can mean redesign it for foot travel. It’s not too late to change your way of consuming/traveling/etc..
You want cleaner cars? Scared of emissions? Do what You can about it. Using a half hearted piece of legislation to do that is a joke.
@RvLeshrac:
Good for Arnold. Good for California. And if it sticks, good for all Americans.
Or would the Bush apologists like to return to the pre-1977 world of unregulated fuel mileage and leaded gasoline? If so, China awaits your visa applications.
@hotrodmetal: Alright you dumb fck. People like to drive myself included and I would think that would include you to some extent. We’re not going to walk 5-10 miles to work everyday and taking the bus is out of the question because of all the stops it has to make before reaching the destination.
If you really think having more efficient cars is a bad thing for our nation, you can go back and live in the carburetor days. Not everybody’s willing to pay $100 for gas everyday.
Whats wrong with pedal power? Or taking the Bus? Or walking a mile to work? Are you against the greater benefit of using public transportation given the inconvenient stops?
The vehicles we have can be a lot better in efficiency, but consumers don’t demand them, and they don’t want to pay the high cost for them.
More efficient cars are better for everyone, and when the general public demands that transportation to be built to an efficient standard, instead of a price, we will have cleaner emissions.
You are right, not everyone will pay a high cost for gas everyday. They also will not go out of their way to consume less.
@ninjatales:
@Monkey4Sale: On electric cars, check out [sciencenow.sciencemag.org] On the horizon of battery technology, a new silicon lithium material that will hold 10 times as much charge as current materials.
@canerican: Did you see the earlier comment about the skies over the San Fernando valley being bright green? I don’t care what you think about global warming, that shit ain’t right.
@hotrodmetal:
90% of the US does not have the option of using any other form of transit. My mother has to travel around 20 miles to and from work – the nearest town is 10 miles away. My father lives at his job and only goes home on the weekends, because there are no comparable positions (read: insurance) where they live now (the cost of living is so much lower that it pays to travel the 200 miles each week).
You can’t ‘redesign your community.’ That is almost completely out of your control (barring a massive tidal wave or earthquake).
We can’t take the bus in Atlanta because, well, it barely goes anywhere useful – unless you’re going to a sports game. When it DOES go somewhere useful, it takes an extra two hours to get where you need to go.
Biking or walking a mile or two to work? I have no problem with that. The problem is when a decent job is located a four hour bus ride away – on the other side of town. It is expensive to move, and even more expensive when you realise that ‘in-town’ apartments, with localized shops, cost 4-5x as much as suburban apartments.
@RvLeshrac: Very valid points but unfortunately, people like Hotrodmetal are so out of touch with reality that they just assume having more gas efficient cars is a bad thing for our nation.
His insane idea to walk or bike in snow and ice just speaks volumes on the type of ignoramus that he is. Public transportation is useful only in larger cities. In smaller cities/towns, it’s almost non-existent.
The government can raise taxes and spend trillions of dollars to build better public transportation in addition to the costs to maintain them or have the car makers do the hard work.
You didn’t read my post. I think more efficient cars are a benefit for everyone.
Do you really think that some lame government legislation tug-o-war between CA and the EPA will really do anything except be a sideshow for politics in an election year?
Folks like yourself would never go outside your comfort zone to make anything happen, based on all of your reasons of why you can’t do any changes. You expect it all just to happen by everyone else, or say “Oh Well” when it doesn’t.
You will adjust to the system set by others & complain when it doesn’t suit you, but you will never do anything beyond that.
We need people like you to keep paying taxes blindly & buy whatever is put in front of you. It’s great for the overall economy.
@ninjatales:
@ninjatales: Please. If everyone took buses, or even more people did, there’d be faster and better routes that didn’t have as many stops. And even if it does take a while, bring a book, some paper work, music, your laptop, whatever. Get something done on the ride, you sure can’t in a car.
As for the article, is Bush retar…er…n/m. But seriously, if a state wants to crack down and get it done faster, LET THEM. How this is anything but good for the environment, I can’t figure out.
@coren: It takes me five minutes to drive to school. If I took the bus, I’d have to leave 45 minutes early. If more people in Corpus Christi used public transportation and we added more buses, it still might take me 20 minutes to get to school because I wouldn’t be the last stop. Either way, no thanks.
@num1skeptic:
For those who want to attack canerican and those who think like them – maybe you should wait to do your full frontal assault until a majority of the world’s scientific community has their chance to be heard, instead of just the politically motivated:
[thepoint.breakpoint.org]