Posted on 11/08/2014 7:38:42 AM PST by PROCON
CNSNews.com) – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed taking 72 hazardous chemicals off of its approved list of inert ingredients allowed for use in pesticides. (See EPA chemical substances for removal.pdf)
But the inclusion of argon (AR) - a naturally occurring element and the third most abundant gas in the Earth’s atmosphere - has left some people scratching their heads.
According to the Gas Encyclopedia, “the name argon comes from the Greek argos, meaning ‘the lazy one’” because it is so chemically stable. The element, which was discovered in 1894, is “so unreactive” that it is primarily used to provide “an inert atmosphere in which hot metals can be worked.”
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
It must be energy intensive, you have to freeze the air and distill it. You’re right, it should be a by-product of the fractional distillation of nitrogen and oxygen. I suppose they have some pretext. I googled “environmental issues argon”, all I came up with is, if you breath it instead of oxygen, you’ll suffocate. DUH! If a large tank of argon under pressure explodes, you might get hurt. DUH,DUHER, DUHEST!
I don’t get it.
My copy of the Constitution does not include “enviromental protection” in Article 1 Section 8...
“Argon is particularly important for the metal industry, being used as an inert gas shield in arc welding and cutting. Other uses incude non-reactive blanket in the manufacture of titanium and other reactive elements and as a protective atmosphere for growing silicon and germanium crystals.
Argon (Ar) - Chemical properties, Health and Environmental ...
www.lenntech.com/periodic/elements/ar.htm”
Lenntech
There is a rather expensive wine preservation system called “CORAVIN” (and others) which uses Argon gas to drive out oxygen and keep the wine ‘fresh’. Obviously the EPA has not yet gotten to it or else the FDA is not yet on board!
Remember, the EPA is a bureaucracy, a GOVERNMENT BUREAUCRACY. By definition they have no limitation on what they can do so long as THEY think it has something to do with the ‘environment’! Using the “Reducto ad absurdum” argument, since everything humans do affects the environment, the logical goal is to eliminate the humans to restore the ‘natural’ environment.
Humanitas delenda est!
It’s a good thing the EPA is staffed by professionals. I feel so much safer know the gubmint is keeping me from harm
I think this has been posted before, but I’m too lazy to look it up and see if I’d pinged it.
“What do they propose to use in welding? Guess no more infrastructure.”
They had better leave it for welding. Supplies are running low so I don’t mind them stopping it in that case as long as they leave it for welding and I believe in certain areas of medicine.
I was also reading that Argon is used in the gases for those nifty incandescent light bulbs. Keeps the filaments and metals from corroding. Guess those little sweeties will get more expensive AND not last as long. Just keeps getting better!
Almost 1% of the Earth’s atmosphere and used everywhere in industrial applications; specifically, an nonreactive shielding gas for light bulbs, welding processes, suncelltm etc.
You unintentionally hit the nail on the head.
The Obama Administration and the Democrats in general, have used the EPA as a way to destroy industrial activity and provide defacto dictatorial levels of control and enforcement authority to restrict economic activity to bring the country to it's knees economically.
“Protecting the environment” is a pretext for adding regulatory burden economic destruction and the real world goal for the Progressives environmental Jihad
An Argon ban calls them out on this.
Argon is a inert gas that naturally exists in the atmosphere and it is a nobel gas that reacts with noting. As such it is used in a large number of industrial process, welding one of them, to provide a stable, non reactive environment.
Once it has been used it is either recaptured for reuse, or vented back to the Earths atmosphere where it originally came from. It's industrial use has no net effect on the Earth's atmosphere or environment, nor is there any possible way that it could.
This policy to regulate Argon, an inert gas with not environmental, health or safety impact shows exposes the arbitrary and malevolent side of the EPA.
Attempts to force America to ban Di Hydrogen Monoxide show the ignorance of the Progressive Environmentalists, but the attempts to ban Argon show the malevolent side because no one can be that stupid.
Agreed! Point well said.
Did any of these EPA morons ever take a high school chemistry course?
“What do they propose to use in welding? Guess no more infrastructure.”
Unicorn farts, which are inert and inherently incapable of supporting oxidation. The bad news is, that will cost the entire world GDP from the end of the Dark Ages to 1799 to fill a tank.
“The EPA used to have competant scientists - then the lawyers took over.”
No, then humanities majors from Smith took over.
I just let a little out of my welding tank just to piss them off. And, (common, garden-variety MIG) welding gas is 75% argon/25% carbon dioxide! It probably cost me a quarter, but it was worth it.
“Are there (purported) environmental concerns about the production of argon?”
The funny thing is, that you can’t even “produce” it*. What is on Earth is mostly produced by the Earth itself by radioactive decay.
*except in minute quantities in a reactor.
Nitrogen is the most abundant gas in the atmosphere. According to one study, however, it is somewhat less effective than argon: "at 20°C, it took 7 days to kill all life stages of the furniture beetle but only 5 days with argon." The difference was attributed to a higher leak rate of oxygen into the plastic enclosure when filled with nitrogen than with argon.
As I read it, the EPA is banning argon, not entirely (which would be ludicrous), but just from pesticides. That’s ludicrous too, but irrelevant. Argon is a noble gas—you can’t make it combine with anything, so it couldn’t possibly be part of a pesticide.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.