]]]]]] Jimmy Bush's Coast-to-Coast Clean Air Catastrophe [[[[[[ By Warren T. Brookes (1/7/1989) From Human Events, 16 December 1989, p. 10 (includes corrections made by HE a week later) Recently in Los Angeles, President Bush addressed the zero-population ``green'' groupies of Hollywood at ``Globescope Pacific'' where Jimmy Carter's ``Global 2000'' paean to future-malaise was miraculously revived in a five-day conference. [Correction: President Bush was listed as keynote speaker but did not attend the event.] The Carter sweater has been replaced by a green hair shirt. Meanwhile, Detroit, already recessionary from the Federal Reserve's interest rate assault, is bracing itself for the passage of the Bush Clean Air Act, which will (among other things) force all Americans to pay $20 billion more a year for driving -- primarily because of smog in the Los Angeles Basin. In 1988, Congress passed the Reagan catastrophic health insurance program to provide benefits no one wanted at costs no one could afford. It may repeat that mistake on the Bush Clean Air Act. Sadly, just as congressmen listened only to self-appointed pressure groups when they passed catastrophic health, they are now running like scared sheep before the yapping environmental shepherd hounds to make the already foolish Bush bill more costly. The difference is that in this case the costs will be hidden in 10 per cent to 20 per cent higher electricity bills and up to $1,000 to $1,500 on each new car sales sticker. The largest share of that cost will lower the level of surface ozone and carbon monoxide in big cities. This will be done in part by costly new tailpipe controls and an ``on-board'' charcoal canister to trap and recycle fueling fumes. That little doozie alone could turn cars into ignitable torches, while requiring one million cars to burn methanol (one of the most toxic substances ever considered for public distribution). It could also add 100 to 300 poisoning deaths a year, while doing almost nothing for emissions on 1983 or later model cars. The premise of this costly madness is that the United States now faces a ``crisis'' in surface ozone and carbon monoxide levels. Congress will force all cars sold in the United States to reach California's stringent new 1993 to 2007 tailpipe emission standards to reduce volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxide (NOX). Those standards may well make sense for southern California, but they make absolutely no sense for the rest of the nation. In the first place, Los Angeles is the only urban area that needs to cut nitrogen oxide. But since NOX itself ``consumes'' surface ozone, reducing it makes ozone more costly to control. Congress' action will throw dozens of clean cities out of ozone compliance. The stupidity of all this is that, ``Except for L.A., there is no ozone crisis in the United States. It is simply untrue that hundreds of millions of Americans are exposed to high ozone levels. The ozone problem in the Los Angeles basin is the worst in the nation and completely unlike that other areas face.'' So says Dr. Kay Jones, one of the nation's most respected environmental officials, who until 1988 served as the senior adviser on the President's Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) for both Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. Dr. Jones' report shows, contrary to environmentalist propaganda, U.S. urban air quality has been steadily improving under current catalytic technology, cutting auto emissions by half since 1970. (See Table.) Jones, who is now a private consultant for the industry-based Clean Air Working Group, says, ``Most American cities do not need a program comparable to that envisioned in Los Angeles....'' The reason is clear: Over the last five years (1985 to 1989 inclusive), 41 of the 71 major urban ``ozone attainment'' areas, representing over 70 per cent of all Americans, are already in compliance, with no more than one day a year with over one hour of surface ozone levels above 0.12 parts per million (ppm). Another two are ``marginal'' with only two to five days a year of ``nonattainment,'' seven are ``moderate,'' having from six to 14 days a year of elevated ozone, and only one, Los Angeles, is ``severe,'' averaging more than 138 days a year with high ozone. And even these averages include the very rare 1988 drought year, when only 15 cities ``attained'' the Environmental Protection Agency ozone standard. But 1989 performance (through Oct. 10, 1989) demonstrated that 1988 was, Jones said, ``an abberational fluke.'' Indeed, it was. Atlanta, which had 19 ``ozone exceedance'' days in 1988, had only one in 1989; Baltimore with 34 in 1988 fell to two in 1989; Boston with 26 in 1988 fell to five in 1989; Chicago from 27 down to three; Washington from 30 down to three, and so on. In fact, ``The majority of U.S. cities where ozone levels now exceed federal standards will likely come into attainment within five years without additional controls,'' Jones said. That's because 83 percent of the pollution now comes from pre-1983 cars, which make up less than half the present fleet. As those cars are replaced, total VOCs will fall another 30 per cent by 1995. While population and car use will modestly reverse that trend in some cities after 1995, ``outside California, the health and safety risks are too insignificant to warrant that kind of draconian measure. We do not have to treat the nation as if it were Los Angeles.'' But try and tell that to ``Jimmy'' Bush. Trends in Auto Pollution Emissions 1970-1986 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Total Emissions* Concentrations** ----------------------- ----------------------- VOCs CO Lead Ozone CO Lead 1970 ..... 12.4 71.8 163.6 0.158 12.86 1.07 1980 ..... 8.2 52.6 59.4 0.145 9.08 0.55 1986 ..... 6.5 42.6 3.5 0.123 7.21 0.15 1980-86 Trend with no Change in Policy: 1990 ..... 5.6 36.9 0.6 0.110 5.98 0.04 ----------------------------------------------------------------- * In millions of metric tons except for carbon monoxide (CO), which is in thousands of metric tons. ** In parts per million except for lead, which is in micrograms per cubic meter. Source: Council on Environmental Quality, 1987-88 Report. Trend projection by author. -------------------- [The following is not part of the original article.] From Human Events, 6 January 1990, p. 19, col. 4: Correction The December 16 Warren T. Brookes column entitled ``Jimmy Bush's Coast-to-Coast Clean Air Catastrophe (page 10) incorrectly stated that President Bush had recently addressed the ``Globescope Pacific'' conference in Los Angeles. Writing on the same day as the conference, Mr. Brookes had relied on the conference program that listed the President as the keynote speaker. The President, however, did not attend the event. [Sysop's note on the correction above: ... But Bush's name was listed on the propaganda sheets prior to the meeting, and Limp Wimp Bush had no objections, so he did intend to go to the cir- cus, though he may later have been interrupted by other activi- ties like maybe crawling on all fours before Butcher Deng.] * * *
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