The daily driver thread in Tech Talk got me thinking and doing a little research. This is basically a long winded rant so stop reading now if you have somewhere to be. I was curious to find out just what benefit the EPA and all of their regulations have had in the last 20 years. I was not surprised to find out that like just about everything else that is run by a government entity it fails to inspire me. The below is the mission statement of the EPA taken directly off the main page of their 2009 budget document.
The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is to protect and safeguard human health and the environment. This budget supports the Administration’s commitment to environmental results as we work to increase the pace of improvement and identify new and better ways to carry out our mission. It also emphasizes the need for sound management of our federal resources, as delineated in the President’s Management Agenda.
Is anyone else confused by that? I for one do not want the EPA looking out for my health, and they have obviously failed miserably in safeguarding and protecting the environment. By their own ranting they admit the environment is in shambles.
However this is an automotive based audience so I will just take aim at those figures
I went to the EPA site to get these figures so I would think that if they were biased they would tend to be so in favor of the EPA. However what I found, while expected still shocked me to see in black and white. I used the best selling car in America for last several years and a truck that I felt would somewhat represent Internationals. I looked up only base model standard transmissions.
The results were as follows
1985 Toyota Camry California model
MPG 23 City 29 Hwy. with a carbon footprint of 7.3 tons per year
1985 Toyota Camry Federal model
MPG 21 City 31 Hwy with a carbon footprint of 7.7 tons per year
Compare this to the 2009 counterpart
2009 Toyota Camry California Model
MPG 25 City 31 Hwy with a carbon footprint of 6.8 tons per year
2009 Toyota Camry Federal Model
MPG 21 City 31 Hwy with a carbon footprint of 7.3 tons per year
And just for giggles I looked but the ever popular Hybrid that is going to save our planet.
MPG Average of 36.5 with the low being 31 and the High being 42 with a carbon footprint of 5.4tons per year
1985 Chevrolet Suburban K10
MPG 14 City 19 Hwy with a carbon footprint of 13.2 tons per year
2009 Chevrolet Suburban 1500
MPG 14 City 19 Hwy with a carbon footprint of 11.4 tons per year
So in the last 20+ years of the EPA taking care of us and spending billions of dollars a year and our cars are getting essentially the same MPG. They have across the board lowered the carbon footprint of the cars I looked at but one has to take the carbon footprint with a grain of salt as the debate is still raging about the actual effects of “Greenhouse Gases” on the environment. In fact the debate has not even been able to prove there is such a thing as a “Greenhouse Gas” Furthermore, the one thing that even opposing people on this debate agree on is that most of the “fossil fuel” that is burnt is cooking and heating fires in 3rd World countries. Of course people would like to make you think that it is your car. That however is simply a agenda.
Note the following study. Of course you can produce studies that refute anything and I understand that but it is food for thought. There is a lot of interesting information on the site that I linked to below this quote.
Just how much of the "Greenhouse Effect" is caused by human activity?
It is about 0.28%, if water vapor is taken into account-- about 5.53%, if not.
This point is so crucial to the debate over global warming that how water vapor is or isn't factored into an analysis of Earth's greenhouse gases makes the difference between describing a significant human contribution to the greenhouse effect, or a negligible one.
Water vapor constitutes Earth's most significant greenhouse gas, accounting for about 95% of Earth's greenhouse effect (4). Interestingly, many "facts and figures' regarding global warming completely ignore the powerful effects of water vapor in the greenhouse system, carelessly (perhaps, deliberately) overstating human impacts as much as 20-fold.
Water vapor is 99.999% of natural origin. Other atmospheric greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and miscellaneous other gases (CFC's, etc.), are also mostly of natural origin (except for the latter, which is mostly anthropogenic).
Human activities contribute slightly to greenhouse gas concentrations through farming, manufacturing, power generation, and transportation. However, these emissions are so dwarfed in comparison to emissions from natural sources we can do nothing about, that even the most costly efforts to limit human emissions would have a very small-- perhaps undetectable-- effect on global climate.
Global Warming: A closer look at the numbers
For your information the following is the total dollars the EPA is asking for to operate in 2009.
The EPA’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 Annual Performance Plan and Congressional Justification requests $7.1 billion in discretionary budget authority and 17,217 Full Time Equivalents (FTE). This request reflects the Agency’s efforts to work with its partners towards protecting air, water, and land, as well as providing for EPA’s role in safeguarding the nation from terrorist attacks. This request echoes the Administration’s commitment to setting high environmental protection standards, while focusing on results and performance, and achieving goals outlined in the President’s Management Agenda.
Link to the site for verification.
http://www.epa.gov/budget/2009/final_09_bib%20.pdf