Posted on 01/25/2013 9:58:02 AM PST by conservative98
With the Fracking Revolution the latter ones are coming on strong in their own right, as I am sure you have read.
Gasoline.
This is small stuff like concrete finishers, etc where the engine cost is a big % of the finished product cost.
The compliant diesels are just too expensive.
EFI-Live tuning is where it’s at now. The EPA can’t do crap to them since they’re kiwis.
They can make one with a toggle or easily swapable with a working one the only way they could check is with a warrant...
“So if I go out in the garage, crawl under the car with a cut-off wheel and chop out the catalytic converter, and replace it with straight pipe - does the EPA intend to sue GM?”
Actually, I’d recommend just hollowing out the cat instead of replacing it with a test pipe - harder to detect from the outside.
In certain states where they don;t do emission testing there are plenty of shade tree mechanics who will kindly “fix” a plugged up convertor for free....
They get to keep the “leavings” of course.
I can tell you about lead based paint "protections". It used to be the standard was 40 mu/DL. Lead paint has been disappearing for a long time and particularly during the building boom starting in the 90s it's out of many houses or so covered in modern paint as to be encapsulated.
Over that time lead based problems with children's blood plummeted. Just what you'd expect and a good thing. Although, you have to keep in mind that dose makes the poison and some lead dust may have a powerful effect on a baby, but as it grows that effect drops. Few American kids are lead poisoned in a way that affects their growth or cognitive skills. Most poor children lack cognitive skills because they're in an environment populated by imbeciles, government schools and drug abusers. All those factor in, plus imagine a household in which a toddler is so hungry and uncared for that it has time to gnosh on a lead painted window sill. Something else is desperately wrong with that kid, but that's another story of government incompetence and failure.
So things are quickly getting better and the lead problem is fading away rapidly. It's no longer a problem and the measurements show it. Out of no where and without any science to back it up the stardard is lowered to 20 mu/DL of blood. Lead "poisoning" suddenly skyrockets and bureaucratic jobs are saved. Is that the kind of protection we needed? Is it even real or just a bogeyman?
Without some objective stop on the "protection" you get crazy nonsense. At what stage of earth's development to you set your standard? These regulatory agencies suffer two major diseases: regulatory capture - where the regulated control the regulators to such an extent that the "regulation" works to keep out competition; the other is mission creep - where the agencies purpose is no longer relevant or they've "won" and should be shut down.
No one will ever be safe enough, but we're not spewing lead into the air like we used to. Furthermore, despite the massive reduction in lead in the US atmosphere and environment (it's hard to absorb the low-toxic metallic form of lead) there's little evidence we're smarter or healthier.
At what point do you declare victory and move on?
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