Smog checks and CARB going away!

[Capri to ST]

As @Dialcaliper said above, what's going on is that the EPA is trying to stop regulating greenhouse gases. Here's a sobering article about the EPA's plan to end regulation of greenhouse gases. The author has previously won a Pulitzer Prize for her writing about the environment-
https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-...lan-to-end-the-regulation-of-greenhouse-gases

It looks to me like the stakes are pretty high here. It's about more than just whether one of us can put a certain part on their car. It's about whether the EPA will continue to fulfill its role in trying to protect us from industries that only want to make money without regard to the consequences.Here in North Carolina we had disastrous unprecedented flooding last fall from an event which was clearly intensified by climate change.People lost their homes and their lives, whole towns were virtually destroyed, this is a serious matter.

 

[SteveS]

As @Dialcaliper said above, what's going on is that the EPA is trying to stop regulating greenhouse gases. Here's a sobering article about the EPA's plan to end regulation of greenhouse gases. The author has previously won a Pulitzer Prize for her writing about the environment-
https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-...lan-to-end-the-regulation-of-greenhouse-gases

It looks to me like the stakes are pretty high here. It's about more than just whether one of us can put a certain part on their car. It's about whether the EPA will continue to fulfill its role in trying to protect us from industries that only want to make money without regard to the consequences.Here in North Carolina we had disastrous unprecedented flooding last fall from an event which was clearly intensified by climate change.People lost their homes and their lives, whole towns were virtually destroyed, this is a serious matter.

I think the basis for what the director of the EPA is doing now is that they believe that when the EPA started calling CO2 and methane pollutants they went beyond their Congressional role and mandate, and what they are doing now is removing the order that went beyond the law.

The story I saw says the director stated that if Congress wants them to regulate those things and writes or amends the law to say so, then they will do that. It basically goes back to the idea that the bureaucracy is not the legislature and cannot write laws and cannot operate outside the bounds written in the laws by expanding those bounds themselves.

Sort of like how the judiciary should not be writing laws.

 

[Capri to ST]

I think the basis for what the director of the EPA is doing now is that they believe that when the EPA started calling CO2 and methane pollutants they went beyond their Congressional role and mandate, and what they are doing now is removing the order that went beyond the law.

The story I saw says the director stated that if Congress wants them to regulate those things and writes or amends the law to say so, then they will do that. It basically goes back to the idea that the bureaucracy is not the legislature and cannot write laws and cannot operate outside the bounds written in the laws by expanding those bounds themselves.

Sort of like how the judiciary should not be writing laws.

Thanks for that perspective, that's a helpful additional piece of information.

 

[foodtruck]

Why was it warmer in centuries past when there was only a fraction of the world population?.

Earth has certainly went through periods of time that are warmer than where we are now and also current temperatures still fluctuate up and down. This is why "global warming" is not a good term, it's climate change and the issue is how fast it's happening.

If change is slow, then ecosystem has time to re-balance; when it's fast it doesn't. Your motor can certainly consume the amount of fuel that it does at 6k RPM but not if you try to dump it into it when you're at 1k RPM

Ecosystem trying to respond to high degree of change that happens rapidly results in anomalies such as floods, droughts, hurricanes, arctic air suddenly diving in on the middle of the continent, etc. I don't think anyone can disagree all these have spiked rapidly and only in during last decade or so. There's an overwhelming amount of evidence that this is due to human activity. With things changing gradually, plants (and probably humans) can evolve to deal with higher temperatures, but not when drastic changes happen over one or two generations.

I forgot to add that CO2 is not a problem. If it weren't for CO2, plants would not be giving us the oxygen to survive and is NOT a pollutant as many think it is.

Same thing on the subject of CO2. It's fine and good _when you have plants to consume it_; when you don't, well, try to imagine what would happen if suddenly the room you're in was filled with large amount of CO2, I don't think you'll feel that well. This is the equivalent of what's happening now, we're adding more greenhouse gasses than environment can process.

 

[rallytaff]

Earth has certainly went through periods of time that are warmer than where we are now. This is why "global warming" is not a good term, it's climate change and the issue is how fast it's happening.

If change is slow, then ecosystem has time to re-balance; when it's fast it doesn't. Your motor can certainly consume the amount of fuel that it does at 6k RPM but not if you try to dump it into the motor when you're at 1k RPM

Ecosystem trying to respond to high degree of change that happens rapidly results in anomalies such as floods, droughts, hurricanes, arctic air suddenly diving in on the middle of the continent, etc. I don't think anyone can disagree all these have spiked rapidly and only in during last decade or so. There's an overwhelming amount of evidence that this is due to human activity.



Same thing on the subject of CO2. It's fine and good _when you have plants to consume it_; when you don't, well, try to imagine what would happen if suddenly the room you're in was filled with large amount of CO2, I don't think you'll feel that good. This is the equivalent of what's happening now, we're adding more greenhouse gasses than environment can process.

"room you're in was filled with large amount of CO2". That will never happen, so I would never worry about it. The climate has always been changing and there's NOTHING man can do to change it. It warms, it cools and has been going on for billions of years. The planet is always in charge and can do whatever it wants.

 

[foodtruck]

I'm also curious, is coal rolling regulation a part of CARB?

 

[rallytaff]

I'm also curious, is coal rolling regulation a part of CARB?

I'm also curious, is coal rolling regulation a part of CARB?

As far as I'm aware, all restrictions for diesels are out the door! Don't forget, CARB is also going to be gone.

 

[foodtruck]

That's wonderful. Watch out for lifted truck owners celebrating CARB going away by coal rolling tiny hatchbacks, I guess.

 

[SteveS]

I'm also curious, is coal rolling regulation a part of CARB?

No. That was all EPA.