Yesterday I got a press release from the Sen. James Inhofe (R-Mongo) Senate Environment Committee Crap Factory© (SJISECCF) touting a new bill Inhofe is pushing that would amend the Clean Air Act "to strengthen penalties on major emission sources in the most polluted areas of the country that fail to meet clean air standards by the attainment deadlines under the current Clean Air Act."
"Hm," I thought, "that actually sounds worthwhile."
"Hm," I then thought, "what am I missing?"
I was too lazy busy to look into it myself. Luckily, AP's done the job for me. Turns out Inhofe's pretty ticked about California's plan to pass tough global warming legislation. So he's trying to get revenge by jacking up fines on businesses in the state.
You see, the only two regions of the country that fit the description in Inhofe's proposed bill are the Los Angeles basin and the San Joaquin Valley.
So, a man who's worked his entire professional career on behalf of polluters is now punishing a small, select set of them in order to piss them off further about the progressive environmental legislation being passed in their state. He doesn't just oppose the California legislation, he's punishing the state for passing it.
How this man became and remains a member of the world's most august deliberative body is an enduring mystery. Oklahoma has much to answer for.
Comments
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mihan Posted 4:31 am
08 Sep 2006
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kmp Posted 4:35 am
08 Sep 2006
You know, I'm not a particularly violent person, but sometimes, I just want one of these guys in a cage match.
What really grates is that I pay the damn lunatic's salary.
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bookerly Posted 10:54 am
08 Sep 2006
There is something interesting about this. Environmentalists are getting mad at Inhofe for legislation that would punish regions that consistently fail to make progress towards meeting clean air standards...
Ummm, shouldn't we be praising him and calling for the scope to be broadened and applied to even more places?
One of our dirty little secrets is that there are a number of places in the country that really do nothing to make the air cleaner, except routinely file for exemptions with the EPA which routinely grants them.... year after year after year.
Why would having cleaner air be considered punishment for California?
I say, let's turn the tables on him, support the bill and expand it to cover more places and more situations!!
patrick
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mihan Posted 2:22 am
10 Sep 2006
By all means! Expand the scope! I'd be surprised if the Californians aren't already all over that.
David: I would like to take issue with your description of our senate.
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bookerly Posted 3:08 am
10 Sep 2006
Dear Mihan,
How did I miss David's description of the Senate? Thanks for noticing that, and I will join your exception petition (grin).
There is a dirty little secret about California. The air is bad all over, and all the extra gadgets and stuff haven't really helped.
Take the Bay Area, the liberals there get by because the winds blow most of their pollution into the Central Valley making other people sick.
The whole Bay Area regularly gets threatened by the EPA for failing to have a plan for cleaning up its air. They mostly file for extensions and exceptions and ask for more time, then really do nothing.
See, it's car country. Sigh.
patrick
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Frank O'Donnell Posted 7:44 am
11 Sep 2006
His "spin" is that he's delaying the attempted retribution because others want a hearing on the issue.
The reality is that Inhofe found out that he didn't have the votes.
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