US Senate panel blocks California emissions plan

[Judi Lynn]

US Senate panel blocks California emissions plan


USA: September 8, 2003


WASHINGTON - A U.S. Senate panel approved legislation that would block California from setting new air pollution standards for the engines which power lawn mowers, generators, pumps and many other small machines.

The Senate Appropriations Committee included the provision in a must-pass $90 billion annual spending bill funding U.S. housing and veterans' programs as well as federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency.
It voted 16-12 to reject an effort by California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein to strip the restriction from the bill.

California has proposed new emissions standards for small lawn and garden engines that would likely require the use of catalytic converters like those required for most vehicles.

Feinstein said blocking those standards would be a "mortal blow" to the state's efforts to comply with federal clean air requirements, possibly jeopardizing government grants worth $2.4 billion a year.
(snip/...)

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/22135/story.htm

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

1. So much for the lie that consrvatives favor local government.

:grr:

[RealityDose]

2. You're right

They like smaller local governments but they are power hungry. Bush has always said state rights are more important. But it depends who is running the state. You don't see Bush stepping in when states improperly spend or refuse to spend the money from the cigarrete settlements, but when it comes to suspending the Patriot Act on the local level, or raising environmental standards above the federal level, they sue saying states don't have that right to set their own laws.

[IndianaGreen]

3. States' rights dont' count when it involves stricter environmental regs

or same-sex marriage.

[femmecahors]

4. They make me sick.

California should secede. BEFORE the RECALL.

The economy of the U.S. would collapse without us.

[pfitz59]

5. California should ignore the Senate.

and impose the rules anyways! (Its their air!) I'm sure the "state's rights" Supreme Court will back California if push comes to shove! (Sarcasm on!)

[userdave2061]

6. How much do these small engines contribute to overall pollution?

If it's .01% is it really important to force a $500.00 increase in the price of a $100.00 machine? How about fart filters for bovines or scubbers for homebrew fermenters?

Somewhere the line must be drawn between reality and the whims of anal extremists.

[pfitz59]

7. Actually its alot........

Leaf blowers, lawn mowers, weed eaters.... Inefficient 2-stroke engines spewing unburnt gas into the atmosphere! California is made up of lots of enclosed valleys subject to inversion which traps poisonous fumes. What price is too great for clean air? BTW - the only "anal extremists" are the greedy mofos who see no crime in ruined lungs and acid rain!