Date:         Wed, 22 Dec 1999 13:24:03 -0600
Reply-To:     Joel Walker <jwalker@URONRAMP.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Joel Walker <jwalker@URONRAMP.NET>
Subject:      Re: New EPA rules for gasoline
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252"

From: "Bulley" <gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM>
> I can't even drum up a flacid argument against the government or industry
> taking bold steps to clean up our putrid air. As I observe more and more
> friends and family fighting asthma, allergies, and respiratory ailments, I
> realize that if it would assure cleaner air for everyone, and everyone
else
> would accede and conform, I would gladly send my beloved Westfalia to the
> crusher without blinking an eye. While I love camping with our van, it is
> more important to me to see healthy children running and playing, a sight
> that our filthy air has made increasingly rare in the summer.

IF the government WOULD take steps to clean up the air, i'd also be
delighted. but i'm old and cynical, from years and years of watching the
politicians TALK about it and do nothing but harass the little guys via the
automobile industry ... while the paper mill down the road belches out its
stench and pollution with no 'bold steps' being taken against it; while the
power plant a few miles away pours out its pollution without any differences
from what i can see.

it's the same old story: money talks, bullshit walks. if you and your
industry have the money, you can get the rules waived for your pollution,
and even get 'credits' for all the old cars you crush ... while still
dumping the stuff out into the air. notice how the law did NOT mention
trucks? wonder why? anybody gonna do anything to clean up the trucking
industry, even to just mandate regular service on the air cleaners and fuel
injectors? how about requiring the airlines to get rid of 20-year old
aircraft that burn more fuel than a new one, and pollute the upper
atmosphere? what about outboard motors on any fishing boats, pleasure boats,
work boats that are still running 2-cycle oil/gas mixtures and dumping
sheens of oil on top of the water? nope, didn't mention those, or many
others. chain saws for the logging industry, weed eaters for the lawn care
industry, and on and on ... there are LOTS of places out there that NEED to
require new equipment and better maintenance, but automobiles are big press
cause we all drive ... and big press gets headlines and media time, and
that's what's important these days. Be Seen. keep your image in front of the
public. and i'm sure that al gore will get 'credit' for the 'cleanup' when
the election starts to heat up next summer ... that's the way politics
works.

it may actually do some good. maybe. well, it's possible. but i've seen far
too many self-serving laws come out of washington and the state capitols to
be the least little bit hopeful. i find that Murphy's Law still applies,
even in politics:
if they can screw it up, they will.

so let's wait and see what happens ... we might all be forced to buy new
Caravans in a couple of years. :(

unca joel