EPA pisses me off....
-mike d.
88, V6, LE, 3.55, Slush-o-matic, many mods.
<a href="http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Pit/1133">
<a href="mailto:miggitymike@juno.com">
"Horn's broken, watch for finger" =)
On Thu, 17 Dec 1998 11:03:38 EST Dkota4by4@aol.com writes:
>The following was on the off-road digest. It is not necessarily my
>opinion,
>just thought someone might find it interesting.
>
>A Catalytic Con Job
>
>By Eric Peters
>Copyright 1998 Investor's Business Daily
>December 16, 1998
>
>Everyone wants clean air, but government shouldn't have to lie to the
>
>public or overstate problems in pursuit of it. So why is the
>Environmental
>Protection Agency lying about cars and global warming?
>
>Underneath your car, bolted to the exhaust pipe, is a muffler-like
>device
>called a catalytic converter. If you were to cut the converter open
>to
>look inside, you'd find a ceramic honeycomb lattice coated with
>platinum
>and palladium.
>
>These precious metals do a marvelous thing: When hot exhaust gases
>pass
>over them, a chemical reaction takes place, converting harmful,
>smog-forming compounds into harmless water vapor and carbon dioxide.
>
>Catalytic converters became standard equipment on all new cars sold in
>the
>U.S. starting in '75. Since then, smog levels have dropped
>dramatically.
>Overall air quality gets better every year.
>
>This, of course, is counter to what you've been hearing on the
>evening
>news. But smart folks prefer to get their air quality facts from
>scientists -not Dan Rather or Al Gore.
>
>''Clearing the Air,'' a comprehensive '95 study commissioned by the
>American Automobile Association, reported that just 24% of the total
>output of Volatile Organic Compounds - the major precursors of smog -
>now
>come from passenger vehicles. That's down from 71% in '70.
>
>It's worth noting that this decline occurred despite a near doubling
>of
>the number of cars on the road and miles driven annually. Experts
>expect
>further dramatic declines as the number of older cars on the road
>dwindle
>and tailpipe emissions standards for trucks and sport-utility vehicles
>are
>tightened.
>
>Carbon monoxide levels have also dropped substantially - by 37% since
>'85.
>In fact, the air is cleaner and healthier now than it's been in more
>than
>30 years - thanks to our friend the catalytic converter, and related
>improvements in engine designs, such as fuel injection.
>
>But now the ''cat'' is under attack by the EPA, which can't abide a
>success story when it comes to automobiles.
>
>A study released by the agency this summer claimed an increase in
>nitrous-
>oxide (N2O) emissions as a result of the catalytic reaction. And N2O,
>says
>the EPA, is a powerful ''greenhouse gas'' that causes - surprise! -
>global
>warming.
>
>''As the number of catalytic converter-equipped vehicles has risen in
>the
>U.S. motor vehicle fleet, so have emissions of N2O,'' the study said.
>
>
>As usual with EPA, there is a kernel of truth to what's being said.
>
>True, a small amount of nitrous oxide is produced by the catalytic
>reaction. But the total amount is so insignificant it couldn't
>possibly
>affect the global climate - even if we accept that ''global warming''
>is
>happening -a dubious proposition with more hot air than science behind
>it.
>
>How small? According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Global Climate
>
>Change - a United Nations agency, mind you - the total annual output
>of
>so-called ''greenhouse gases'' is around 157.1 billion metric tons
>worldwide.
>
>That's a lot of gas. But guess what? Mankind contributes just 7.1
>billion
>metric tons of the total. The remaining 150 billion metric tons comes
>from
>natural sources, such as volcanic eruptions, the evaporation of
>seawater
>and the decay of organic matter.
>
>Only 280.7 million metric tons comes from the operation of motor
>vehicles
>in the U.S.
>
>EPA says nitrous oxide emissions from all sources equate to 7.2% of
>America's total output of ''greenhouse gases.'' But 7.2% of 1.442
>billion
>metric tons - the estimated total U.S. output of greenhouse gases from
>all
>man-made sources, including cars and trucks - is about 100.8 million
>metric tons. That's next to nothing in the grand scheme of things, a
>proverbial drop in the global warming bucket.
>
>Bear in mind this assumes EPA's numbers are accurate, which they
>almost
>never are. The dismal record of EPA doomsaying on everything from
>asbestos
>to airborne particulate matter speaks for itself.
>
>Americans may not be rocket scientists in terms of their math ability
>-but
>even Forrest Gump knows 103.8 million out of 157.1 billion isn't much
>to
>get excited about. Unless, of course, you have a budget to protect and
>a
>''mission'' to justify.
>
>EPA should worry more about legitimate problems - such as the small
>handful of grossly out-of-tune and poorly maintained older cars that
>represent less than 5% of the vehicles on the roads but which
>contribute
>more than 50% of the genuinely harmful pollution.
>
>Eric Peters is a nationally syndicated automotive writer
>
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