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Posted on 07/12/2002 7:10:31 AM PDT by Stand Watch Listen
From the birthplace of fads, the place that prides itself on being the first to do whatever, comes the first law to restrict emissions of carbon dioxide from cars to slow global warming.
It passed by one vote in the California Senate last month. In essence, this global warming law (AB 1058) mandates significant increases in fuel efficiency.
Californians seem to "care" more about the environment than the rest of us mere Americans. They care so much, for example, that years ago they mandated that 10 percent of new cars in 2003 be "zero emission" automobiles.
When no electric car (which really does "emit" from the power plant down the road) that was useful and salable appeared, Californians rolled back the legal compliance date to 2009. Caring does not necessarily imply sincerity.
It's debatable whether Gov. Gray Davis will sign the global warming bill. If he does, the many forces allied against it-auto makers, many energy companies, and many drivers-may desert to Republican William Simon, who is already running close to Davis in November's election. If Davis doesn't sign, he may gain politically. After all, will the hyper-greens that are so abundant in the Golden State vote for the libertarian-style Simon?
Davis may also veto the bill, saying he that he wants something stronger, and, thus, keep the greens. "Stronger," as in a bill that really does something about greenhouse emissions.
That's because AB 1058 merely says that California will reduce emissions by 2009, not by how much. It also pretty much proscribes how this is to be accomplished, at least as far as automobiles are concerned. According to the text, it can't be implemented by increasing energy taxes, by differentially taxing SUV gas-hogs, or by reducing vehicle weight.
This is California dreamin' at its most lurid. If weight reduction, SUV reduction, and taxes cannot be mandated, this leaves some unspecified technological fix. About the only one out there is the hybrid gas-electric automobile.
California is remarkably foolish to rely on such technology for much in the way of energy savings. The only hybrid that can get terrific fuel economy is the two-seater Honda Insight, and that's only when driven in a non-California way. My Insight, driven on the rolling country roads of Virginia, has averaged 70.5 mpg over its virtually flawless 34,000 miles.
But my sister-in-law's, stuck in Southern California conga lines or racing through Riverside, is stuck at 51.9 mpg. Demand? Honda's only sold around 10,000 in two-and-a-half years. Many think that's because Insight only holds two, but the efficiency price for a back seat is dear.
The larger Toyota Prius averages around 45 mpg in the real world, about 15 percent more than people get from the less expensive Echo platform on which it is built. Honda's new hybrid Civic, with its silky-smooth CVT transmission gets about the same. But there are plenty of owners who can't seem to budge that technologically sophisticated
wonder out of the high 30s.
You could do the math instead of writing legislation. If the United States increased the fuel efficiency of its cars and trucks by 15 percent-and kept the number of cars constant (which is impossible) -- the net reduction in emissions would be 8/1000's of the total global human contribution, which might be good for a 50-year reduction of 0.007 degrees Farenheit of global warming.
California's contribution under this legislation would be about 1/10 of that, or seven ten-thousandths of a degree. In other words, California is dreamin' if it thinks hybrid technology is going to reduce global warming.
Less dreamy economists and climatologists will tell you that any attempt to reduce emissions to the point at which they have a demonstrable affect on global warming requires some type of major tax, hidden or explicit.
In fact, that's what largely killed the Kyoto Protocol in the Bush administration. It discovered that if every nation on earth fulfilled Kyoto's dictates (which, for the U.S. would mean a drop in carbon dioxide emissions of about 30 percent, beginning in 2008), the amount of "saved" global warming would be 0.13 degrees Farenheit in the next 50 years - but the required energy taxes would be huge.
It's obvious that California's greenhouse law is a sham. And when it doesn't work, well, they'll just roll back the date a few years. Washington isn't that far behind on this one.
The current energy bill being debated by Congress also purports to reduce greenhouse emissions, and it will be equivalently ineffectual unless it dramatically raises the price of gasoline, kicks soccer moms out of their SUV's, and encourages smaller cars that will get creamed by the behemoths remaining on the road.
That is not the road to re-election. That's California dreamin'.
(Patrick J. Michaels is senior fellow in environmental studies at the Cato Institute and author of "The Satanic Gases.")
Cato Institute
Yes, of course it's a sham, but it's a feel good socialist sham and therefore it is good and deserves our support no matter what hard, cold logic tells those who are capable of thinking.
He says, in effect, that if we spent $2 billion in research, we'd get truly cost-effective clean vehicles a decade or two down the road, and global warming would peak and decline rapidly(*). This is as opposed to trillions (!) in taxes and extra spending to get global warming down by a fraction of a degree worldwide.
In short, we are barking down the wrong tree when we take this punative approach. It's both bad politics and lousy science.
D
(*) He doesn't mention this, but a lot of this commitment has already been made by private companies such as GM. See the August issue of Wired for an intriguing cover story on GM's latest research.
An update is needed for folks outside of California. Thru some parlimentary shenigans, the bill is now AB1493.
See this:California: Emissions bill senator's smoke and mirrors win (Cal Sen Burton gets credit )
And this:
California: Emissions bill senator's smoke and mirrors win (Cal Sen Burton gets credit )
DAVIS SIGNALS PLAN TO SIGN SUV LEGISLATION
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It is nothing but a diobolical plot by socialists to immobilize the public so that they are controlable.
You can't control a mobile society.
Now that has to be some kind of a joke, a bicicle with 2 flat tires is superior to a Fiat and coupled with a Yugo has to be equivalant to racing a bicicle without wheels and a parapaligic riding it.
It is nothing but a diobolical plot by socialists to immobilize the public so that they are controlable.Bingo... Unfortunately, the PEEPLE of Kalifornia were screwed again and again!!! but too stupid to get it. SIGH...You can't control a mobile society
Ya know, the California bashing is starting to get old. Toidylop, I don't mean to pick you out from thousands of posters on FR, it's just that you're the one who happens to have posted here....really, I am sorry.
We're no different than any other state. The MEDIA is covering this thing up to a great degree. If you, or anyone else, thinks that all the people out here who drive their trucks, SUV's, etc., would FALL for this if they knew the TRUTH....
I seriously doubt that the networks are smart enough to figure out FR, but hey, if one of you TV reporters is reading this, please, do a segment of it on TV? Tell the public the truth.
Please, Toidylop and everyone who's not from CA but reading this, help us fight this STUPID bill. I have no idea where it started, but you know the old saying about "So goes California, so goes the nation"? (Har! SOMETHING like that!)
What I can't seem to get anyone to understand it that we are NOT all a bunch of liberals here! This state is like any other, we have liberals, and we have conservatives and we have middle of the roads and indifferent. People are people. Do you really think we are this stupid? Even the normal RATS here don't want this garbage! They are complaining about this too!
Please note the snailmail address for FreeRepublic at the bottom of this page. (Hint: The CA part doesn't stand for Canada.)
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I'm not surprised.
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