Rules have diesel enthusiasts fuming

[Parts]

I'm not concerned about any impact these jokels have on actual environment. Airtravel out-trumfs them easily, and it's just one of many. "Solution" is not within our scope.

I'm just pissed off at their entitlement. That they think "fun" is a human right. Life and existence, and a reasonable comfort is a human right. Doing whatever you want, when you want it, cuz its fun, is not a human right.

That argument is used in this country by the right all the time in regards to drugs, sex that they find objectionable and a host of other things they don't like so I am not a big fan of it.   Reasonable comfort is very subjective who decides what that is?  I don't want to live someplace where all aspects of my life are regulated to provide me with someone else's idea of reasonable comfort.

I question that after seeing Icequeen's video. Regardless of their argument, that driver created a hazard by modifying a vehicle to impair the visibility of others. I also think that, by purposely shooting sooty exhaust at bicyclists, the driver committed assault.

Which could be dealt with locally by the police through public nuisance laws and does not need the EPA with their heavy handed approach to things.  The people blowing smoke at others like that are the assholes of the group others seem more interested in performance, engine life, and just plain tinkering.  Use current laws to go after the asshole and leave the rest of them alone   

[Semicolon]

I'm not concerned about any impact these jokels have on actual environment. Airtravel out-trumfs them easily, and it's just one of many. "Solution" is not within our scope.

I'm just pissed off at their entitlement. That they think "fun" is a human right. Life and existence, and a reasonable comfort is a human right. Doing whatever you want, when you want it, cuz its fun, is not a human right.

That argument is used in this country by the right all the time in regards to drugs, sex that they find objectionable and a host of other things they don't like so I am not a big fan of it.   Reasonable comfort is very subjective who decides what that is?  I don't want to live someplace where all aspects of my life are regulated to provide me with someone else's idea of reasonable comfort.

I question that after seeing Icequeen's video. Regardless of their argument, that driver created a hazard by modifying a vehicle to impair the visibility of others. I also think that, by purposely shooting sooty exhaust at bicyclists, the driver committed assault.

Which could be dealt with locally by the police through public nuisance laws and does not need the EPA with their heavy handed approach to things.  The people blowing smoke at others like that are the assholes of the group others seem more interested in performance, engine life, and just plain tinkering.  Use current laws to go after the asshole and leave the rest of them alone

Given the state of global warming, we do need the EPA and their heavy-handed approach to things. Diesel fumes can be a public health hazard. Link 1 Link 2

[Parts]

I'm not concerned about any impact these jokels have on actual environment. Airtravel out-trumfs them easily, and it's just one of many. "Solution" is not within our scope.

I'm just pissed off at their entitlement. That they think "fun" is a human right. Life and existence, and a reasonable comfort is a human right. Doing whatever you want, when you want it, cuz its fun, is not a human right.

That argument is used in this country by the right all the time in regards to drugs, sex that they find objectionable and a host of other things they don't like so I am not a big fan of it.   Reasonable comfort is very subjective who decides what that is?  I don't want to live someplace where all aspects of my life are regulated to provide me with someone else's idea of reasonable comfort.

I question that after seeing Icequeen's video. Regardless of their argument, that driver created a hazard by modifying a vehicle to impair the visibility of others. I also think that, by purposely shooting sooty exhaust at bicyclists, the driver committed assault.

Which could be dealt with locally by the police through public nuisance laws and does not need the EPA with their heavy handed approach to things.  The people blowing smoke at others like that are the assholes of the group others seem more interested in performance, engine life, and just plain tinkering.  Use current laws to go after the asshole and leave the rest of them alone

Given the state of global warming, we do need the EPA and their heavy-handed approach to things. Diesel fumes can be a public health hazard. Link 1 Link 2

The phase 'Given the state of global warming'  is about as cliche as 'Things are different now  because of 911' and I find it just as pointless.   Yes sucking diesel fumes is bad for you so are a lot of things should something be done to try and make things better of course but going after some hobbyists will not have much if any impact.

So we need the heavy handed approach?  I think not.  Funny when I was in college it was one of the places I thought about trying to get a job when I finished my degree in environmental biology but things went another direction and I'm kinda glad at this point.  Yes they are needed but have gotten out of control as most government bureaucracies seem to do and their actions have turned a lot of people against them.

Last summer, I wrote about the Environmental Protection Agency’s shameful persecution of a Texas natural-gas company, Range Resources Corp. The year before, EPA had slapped the company with an “emergency order” under the Safe Drinking Water Act, alleging that it “caused or contributed to” the contamination of two water wells west of Fort Worth. Almost immediately, however, EPA was forced to admit that Range had no connection whatsoever to the contamination in question. It nonetheless insisted on the company’s obedience to the original order.

I argued then that this was all a shameful abuse of power. Well, just last week, after a nearly two-year odyssey in which the company has spent $4.2 million defending itself, EPA agreed to drop the whole thing. The withdrawal of the emergency order was officially announced at the end of last week, where the government usually tries to bury its embarrassments.

Link

Some delinquent staffers have given U.S. EPA employees a bad rap.

First came the outlandish case of fake spy John Beale, a movie-worthy drama about a high-ranking EPA official who fooled co-workers for years and swindled the government out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. And then came news of misconduct and management bungling with employees watching pornography on the job, a political appointee accepting a trip on a private jet from a lobbyist and an office losing hundreds of passports.

Link

Andy Johnson is the newest poster boy for anti-EPA sentiment.

The Uinta County man’s name went viral last week after the Environmental Protection Agency issued an administrative order demanding he dismantle a pond he built on his property in 2011.

The EPA claims Johnson violated the Clean Water Act by damming the middle of Six Mile Creek and polluting the water to build the pond. The agency is threatening Johnson with a $75,000 per-day fine -- a penalty often reserved for companies that emit toxic hazards.

Link

The Environmental Protection Agency is coming under increasing fire for a raid conducted in Alaska this summer by armed agents seeking violations of the Clean Water Act.

Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell announced late Thursday that he has named a special counsel to investigate the August incident in the tiny town of Chicken, Alaska, shortly after Republicans at a House subcommittee hearing characterized the episode as an effort to intimidate miners.

“[A]n EPA SWAT team of heavily armed and armored agents conducted ‘paperwork’ inspections on small mining operations in what attempts to be nothing more than an effort to intimidate and scare hardworking Americans,” said Rep. Doug Lamborn, Colorado Republican, who heads the House Resources Committee’s subcommittee on energy and mineral resources.

Link

[Jack]

Given the state of global warming, we do need the EPA and their heavy-handed approach to things.

The EPA's heavy hand is needed for industrial companies. Somewhere along the lines, people became convinced the general public are the ones truly damaging the environment. Parts is right, this can be addressed with existing local law.

[odeon]

There is a similar one-sided discussion going on in Sweden. The general public is to blame, or at least anyone who owns a car. It gets a bit tiresome after a while.

[sg1008]

I didn't want to have to do this but, YES TRUCK DRIVERS CONTRIBUTE A LOT TO AIR POLLUTION.

In terms of companies or industries: they employ tons of trucks which haul lots of stuff up and down highways all day and night...which contribute significantly to smog, and the release of chemicals into the air (which can cause nose bleeds, headaches, skin irritation, and other ailments). I got a nasty taste of this first hand when I ended up on the highway with my bike and the exhaust fumes triggered an asthma attack. Small towns where industries begin mining or some other shit requiring 100s of trucks to traffic the area daily, suddenly become dens of air pollution with big-city levels of smog.

If you are looking at an industry and say "ok, you are basically polluting way too much, you need to reduce your emissions", then one way industry can significantly reduce their emissions is to make sure the trucks which they employ are not exceeding certain limits.

Yeah maybe the singular truck driver is too moronic to realise WHY he has to watch his emissions, but it doesn't change the fact that it is necessary. They aren't singling out people, they are singling out INDUSTRIES and COMPANIES which happen to employ people.

These truck drivers are dumbasses.

[Parts]

This isn't about truck drivers as an industry but about people modifying diesel engines either for performance or to blow smoke.  Companies don't normally do things like this as it tends to void warranties and makes servicing the trucks more complicated which costs them money that they can't afford.  Also look around you almost all that stuff you see, at least if your indoors,  got there on a truck at some point it's not like they are driving up and down the highway at all hours just to cause pollution.   Also in case your wondering I think the people who like to drive and blow out that black smoke are assholes too.

[Gopher Gary]

I didn't want to have to do this but, YES TRUCK DRIVERS CONTRIBUTE A LOT TO AIR POLLUTION.

In terms of companies or industries: they employ tons of trucks which haul lots of stuff up and down highways all day and night...which contribute significantly to smog, and the release of chemicals into the air (which can cause nose bleeds, headaches, skin irritation, and other ailments). I got a nasty taste of this first hand when I ended up on the highway with my bike and the exhaust fumes triggered an asthma attack. Small towns where industries begin mining or some other shit requiring 100s of trucks to traffic the area daily, suddenly become dens of air pollution with big-city levels of smog.

If you are looking at an industry and say "ok, you are basically polluting way too much, you need to reduce your emissions", then one way industry can significantly reduce their emissions is to make sure the trucks which they employ are not exceeding certain limits.

Yeah maybe the singular truck driver is too moronic to realise WHY he has to watch his emissions, but it doesn't change the fact that it is necessary. They aren't singling out people, they are singling out INDUSTRIES and COMPANIES which happen to employ people.

These truck drivers are dumbasses.

NUKE ALL THE TRUCKDRIVERS!! 

[sg1008]

I didn't want to have to do this but, YES TRUCK DRIVERS CONTRIBUTE A LOT TO AIR POLLUTION.

In terms of companies or industries: they employ tons of trucks which haul lots of stuff up and down highways all day and night...which contribute significantly to smog, and the release of chemicals into the air (which can cause nose bleeds, headaches, skin irritation, and other ailments). I got a nasty taste of this first hand when I ended up on the highway with my bike and the exhaust fumes triggered an asthma attack. Small towns where industries begin mining or some other shit requiring 100s of trucks to traffic the area daily, suddenly become dens of air pollution with big-city levels of smog.

If you are looking at an industry and say "ok, you are basically polluting way too much, you need to reduce your emissions", then one way industry can significantly reduce their emissions is to make sure the trucks which they employ are not exceeding certain limits.

Yeah maybe the singular truck driver is too moronic to realise WHY he has to watch his emissions, but it doesn't change the fact that it is necessary. They aren't singling out people, they are singling out INDUSTRIES and COMPANIES which happen to employ people.

These truck drivers are dumbasses.

NUKE ALL THE TRUCKDRIVERS!! 

 

NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS!!!! 

[sg1008]

This isn't about truck drivers as an industry but about people modifying diesel engines either for performance or to blow smoke.  Companies don't normally do things like this as it tends to void warranties and makes servicing the trucks more complicated which costs them money that they can't afford.  Also look around you almost all that stuff you see, at least if your indoors,  got there on a truck at some point it's not like they are driving up and down the highway at all hours just to cause pollution.   Also in case your wondering I think the people who like to drive and blow out that black smoke are assholes too.

So...you're saying this whole article was just sensationalising journalism? I can agree with that. They don't do a very good job of informing anyone of anything. Probably just trying to start a riot.

[odeon]

Cows contribute more to global warming than the whole transportation sector. Just sayin'.

[Parts]

Cows contribute more to global warming than the whole transportation sector. Just sayin'.

There are people saying that should be banned also Link    

A global shift towards a vegan diet is vital to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty and the worst impacts of climate change, a UN report said today.

As the global population surges towards a predicted 9.1 billion people by 2050, western tastes for diets rich in meat and dairy products are unsustainable, says the report from United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) international panel of sustainable resource management.

[Icequeen]

Got to see one of these modified trucks on the ride home from the beach.

Little Dodge Ram with twin stacks rolling coal all over a mack truck. 

[odeon]

Got to see one of these modified trucks on the ride home from the beach.

Little Dodge Ram with twin stacks rolling coal all over a mack truck. 

I was hoping for pics.

[ZEGH8578]

Blaming the public is an excellent deflection of the issue.

Petroleum companies are to blame, well, mostly. Coal and such as well. We have other methods, but these methods won't generate the income petroleum does. So, case closed, fuck every other method.

People will demand a more sound method though, so people are thrown a shiny, colorful toy, or a war, or a pointless circular debate.