Beware of well meaning legislation that could have the effect of "forcing"
our old cars off the road...
In this morning's Seattle Times:
Bush plan has states buying old junkers
Washington
The Bush administration is working on a plan to encourage states to buy
and scrap old cars to cut down on air pollution.
The effort would be modeled after a successful program the Unocal Corp.
mounted in Los Angeles in the summer of 1990 in which the oil company paid
$700 apiece for pre-1971 cars and scrapped them.
Experts say tons of pollution emissions could be prevented by encouraging
drivers to switch to cleaner, newer-model cars.
The Clean Air Act of 1990 backed voluntary programs to remove pre-1980
cars and light trucks. The Environmental Protection Agency is preparing
guidelines to encourage states to set up auto "scrappage" programs as part
of their own plans to meet the new pollution standards.
In big cities with serious pollution problems, it would probably cost
"a lot less" to achieve a ton of pollution control by scrapping old cars
than by putting an extra piece of emissions control machinery on a
smokestack, one official said.
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