OK, so it didn't exactly fit into the Global warming thread...started this thread because I'm sure there are members here who will have opinions regarding our Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Not long ago the EPA required states to make sure that the pollution created by coal-fired power plants does not impact the other states "downwind". This was, of course, challenged, mainly by the conservative states, including Texas, where I live, and the U.S. Supreme Court just ruled that the EPA does have the right to limit cross-state air pollution in this admittedly very narrow context.
So...right now it only applies to the pollutants produced by burning coal. I know because I am a member of an electrical cooperative in Kansas that many states are refusing to allow new coal-fired power plants to be constructed unless they install powerful "scrubbers" to capture those pollutants before they can be admitted.
We all use electricity, so we're all involved in some way in creating the problem...now somebody has to solve the problem.
I am sure that there will be outcries regarding the increased cost of building the new power plants due to the cost of the scrubbers, etc., and I do not deny that will raise the end-price of their product. I also know that there are unique methods out there of producing electricity that are not polluting...costly, yes, but if you believe that we humans are having a negative impact on our environment's health, then it must interest you.
I guess I'm concerned that the EPA might take this and run wild...eventually insisting that farmers control the dispersion of the methane gasses their livestock produces, etc...those concerns will probably fall into that 95% of things we worry about that never become a problem, but with the current environmental issues we're facing world wide, I'm curious about what others think, too.
Please chime in if you have an opinion...thanks!
Cheers!
Doug
Not long ago the EPA required states to make sure that the pollution created by coal-fired power plants does not impact the other states "downwind". This was, of course, challenged, mainly by the conservative states, including Texas, where I live, and the U.S. Supreme Court just ruled that the EPA does have the right to limit cross-state air pollution in this admittedly very narrow context.
So...right now it only applies to the pollutants produced by burning coal. I know because I am a member of an electrical cooperative in Kansas that many states are refusing to allow new coal-fired power plants to be constructed unless they install powerful "scrubbers" to capture those pollutants before they can be admitted.
We all use electricity, so we're all involved in some way in creating the problem...now somebody has to solve the problem.
I am sure that there will be outcries regarding the increased cost of building the new power plants due to the cost of the scrubbers, etc., and I do not deny that will raise the end-price of their product. I also know that there are unique methods out there of producing electricity that are not polluting...costly, yes, but if you believe that we humans are having a negative impact on our environment's health, then it must interest you.
I guess I'm concerned that the EPA might take this and run wild...eventually insisting that farmers control the dispersion of the methane gasses their livestock produces, etc...those concerns will probably fall into that 95% of things we worry about that never become a problem, but with the current environmental issues we're facing world wide, I'm curious about what others think, too.
Please chime in if you have an opinion...thanks!
Cheers!
Doug