don’t bite the hand that feeds you

We all remember the drama surrounding the big auto bailout, with the CEO’s from the Detroit Three showing up in their private planes.  

Well, here is another tale that should be filed with the absurd.

Prior to the bailout the auto companies had filed suit against individual state EPA’s over their amendments to Clean Air Acts and emissions standards, for example what is happening in California.  Apparently, after taking taxpayer money and promising as part of the stimulus that they will pursue new ‘greener’ options in car manufacture… they are still moving forward with all of their lawsuits!!

California’s attorney general, Jerry Brown, observed today on NPR, “The irony here is the auto companies want a bailout, in many ways because they weren’t building the kind of cars that were compatible with today’s energy market—and at the same time, they want to keep going with their lawsuits, which have already cost millions and millions of dollars.”

You know what the saddest part of this whole thing is, however?  That we, the citizens, will probably do absolutely nothing in fighting the auto industry for this audacity.  The money that has come to these corporations is being taken out of our future holdings either through Social Security or the fact that we will have to pay back the Federal Reserve interest from all of these loans.  That we are going to sit by and allow this to happen is an atrocity.

This was first reported through the New Yorker.

detroit beware

Very quickly after taking office, many expect Barack Obama to hand down legislation that allows California to enforce their own greenhouse gas standards on automobiles, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Essentially, this would force any car company wanting to sell in these states to meet emissions requirements that they cannot meet right now.  

This has been at issue since 2002 when California decided to enact its own emissions laws. However, siding with the auto manufacturers, the EPA under the Bush Administration would not honor California’s new limits.  As a result, California sued the EPA and it has since been at a stand still.

The United States car companies will continue to fight this by saying that in order to meet demands car prices will have to increase.  Of course, foreign companies have been able to meet the standards for years, putting out domestic cars to shame. Unfortunately for carmakers, the industry’s top defender in Congress, Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), lost his chairmanship of the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee to Henry Waxman, a California Democrat known for an environment-first platform. 

Part of the problem, as well, is that the emissions standards will have a more difficult time being met with larger cars, forcing the companies to focus on smaller cars, which we know Detroit does not want to do.

they have me so confused

It seems that for every handful of bad deeds performed by the EPA, they counter with one good deed. I feel like I am in a bad relationship where I stick around through all the terrible, because the good is just oh-so-good.

This posts “Top Ten” list is of a different nature and comes from the EPA. They have created their version of the FBI Most Wanted list, by posting pictures and data on the men with the most heinous environmental crimes.

A top EPA enforcement official said the people on the list represent the “brazen universe of people that are evading the law.” Many face years in prison and some charges could result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.

“They are charged with environmental crimes, and they should be brought before the criminal justice system and have their day in court,” said Pete Rosenberg, a director in the agency’s criminal enforcement division.

The list includes men like John Karayinnades who dumped oil contaminated grain off the coast of Florida or Joseph O’Connor who dumped pollutants off the coast of San Diego.

But my one question for the EPA is: where are the CEO’s of Ford or GM for polluting the air with high emissions SUV’s sold by the millions? Or, the United States Navy for their illegal practice of dumping trash off the air craft carriers, polluting our oceans? Or, our current President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney for allowing ruling after ruling, in favor of the planet, to be vetoed or overturn at the behest and benefit of a power company, pharmaceutical company, chemical company or the like?

And while I think the list is important, and does include people that need to be charged with crimes, I think their crimes pale in comparison to the onslaught against the environment that other men have committed. However, I am also aware that the nature of our country is that the men missing are the men we reward… with $15 million.

You can find the EPA list, here: http://www.epa.gov/fugitives/