[at-l] Pollution laws

[KD5XB@AMSAT.ORG (Earl Needham)]

At 07:19 PM 1/28/01 -0500, Slyatpct@aol.com blasted the following out into 
the ether:
>In a message dated 1/28/2001 6:50:27 PM Eastern Standard Time,
>KD5XB@AMSAT.ORG writes:
>
><< I think pollution
>  laws are too strict and too heavy-handed. >>
>
>Sure beats the alternative!

      I'd go back to the conditions of the early '60's in a HEARTBEAT.

>I'm surprised anyone would say that.  I can only imagine just what our air
>and water quality would be like without the laws.  I've been to less
>developed countries where one could hardly breathe and water had to be
>treated.

      I've been to Japan, where things were extremely clean, and I've been 
to South Korea, where you couldn't even drink the water from the water 
mains.  The air in Japan was good with visibility of WELL over 20 
miles.  the air in south Korea was somewhat worse, especially when the 
farmers would all burn their rice fields at the same time.

>   We aren't far away.  I'd like to think corporations and people
>would skip the monetary bottom-line on this subject and think about the
>future with regard to health of the planet.
>
>Sly

      I grew up in the oil fields of south Texas.  In the late '50's and 
early '60's, there wasn't a day that went by that you didn't see a big 
plume of smoke on the horizon.  Why?  Well, it seems it was common practice 
to let the crude flow into the storage tanks until the tanks ran over.  The 
excess would flow into a catch-pit where it would be burned as waste.

      What was the air quality like back then?  Well, most days you could 
see at least 20 miles.  Occasionally you could see -- FARTHER.  No bad 
odors or burning eyes, or anything else that would normally be associated 
with air pollution.

      Now, after 1973 or so, when cars got all their emissions control 
devices, the air (in some places) is just AWFUL.  Been to LA lately?  I was 
there some 15 years ago, and you couldn't see a mile.  Too hazy.  And you 
couldn't hardly breathe -- it was like smoking a bad cigar or something all 
the time.  I don't have the foggiest notion what it's like today, though.

      Gas mileage went down so much that I have to wonder just what good 
the pollution controls did.  Remember before 1972 when cars got around 20 
MPG?  Between 1072 and around 1985, gas economy was anywhere from 5 to 12 
MPG, at least in my experience.  What's the good of reducing pollution in 
PPM if the millions goes from 3 to 300?  In other words, if say, HS is at 
300 PPM, and the million is only 3, that's around 900 parts of 
HS.  Reducing it to 100 while raising the millions to 900 gives an INCREASE 
of HS released into the air.  Where's all that gasoline going?  Right out 
the tailpipe one way or another.

      At least, that's how *I* understand it.  Some parts of the pollution 
laws just don't "hold water".

      Now, that said, let me add that OF COURSE I don't advocate anybody 
pouring ANYTHING into our rivers (such as acid pollutants) or releasing 
natural gas into the atmosphere.  It's just that I remember what things 
were like 40 years ago, before the EPA had their fingers in everything.

      Earl


Earl Needham, KD5XB    mailto:KD5XB@AMSAT.ORG
Clovis, New Mexico         DM84jk N34d 25.446m W103d 12.700m (or so)

Pet peeve: breath is a noun,  breathe is a verb (When you take a breath, 
you breathe...)