A step Backward

In this article we are informed that US Emissions from Power Plants Increased 2.9% in 2007. We would have thought that this would so worry the powers that be, that they would be busy formulating policy and drafting legislation designed to reduce emissions. So are they? In a word, No!

In fact The California Air Resources Board meets in Sacramento to consider a plan to cut the number of pure electric vehicles that carmakers would be required to sell over the next few years from 25,000 to 2,500. When the state enacted this zero-emission vehicle mandate in 1990, it called for 10 percent of new-vehicle sales from big automakers to be all-electric by 2003, or about 100,000 cars or more a year. Under pressure from automakers and the Bush Administration, that requirement was eventually delayed by several years and reduced to the current level. Automakers are testifying that a mix of cleaner-burning gasoline cars, hybrids and plug-in hybrids would be more realistic. Talk about taking a step (or several) backwards!