Ed Bobit's Publisher's Page

"Don't let the bastards grind you down." — Joseph W. Stil I well. (Ed.: His own translation of Illegitimate non carborundum.)

Dateline: Santa Ana, California — The Orange County fleet of 325 passenger sedans, 292 pickup trucks, 50 panel trucks and 33 station wagons will not be converted to either natural or liquid propane gas as had been planned. A cost of as much as $300 per vehicle for adapter kits prompted the decision, according to Robert Stechmann, Orange County vehicle service coordinator. Instead of the propane fuel, the county will continue use of low-lead gasoline until July 1, 1975, when the entire fleet will be switched to no-lead fuel.

There are certainly interesting and disturbing reports today amid the onslaught toward emission standards. Certainly, tougher emission standards for cars and trucks should be supported. However, during the last decade, the amount of hydrocarbons given off by new cars has already been reduced by 80%; and carbon-monoxide emissions down correspondingly by 65%. We can expect: that with existing capabilities, these improvements can continue in an orderly manner. The auto industry is currently investing a quarter of a billion dollars yearly on pollution controls.

Now consider that a mandatory standard of the Clean Air Act Amendment of 1970 demands a 90% reduction below today's emission levels by 1975. In effect this means that your car could be barred from the highway at that time if it releases, in one days travel, more hydrocarbons than are released by the burning of two logs in your fireplace.

The Environmental Protection Agency has reported to Congress that we simply do not now have the technology to comply with some of the emission standards that have been written into law. The bill for providing that technology will soar into the high millions. And every car buyer, including the fleets, will pay for it in a higher price for his car and truck.

Three out of every 10 new cars purchased in 1976 will have to pay a major economic penalty for pollution controls required by the Clean Air Act, a study prepared for the White House confirmed.

Some 30% of the total vehicle population is in areas that have no air quality problem, and these areas involve about half of the U.S. said the report.

The report, released by the Office of Science and Technology, estimated the controls required on '76 cars would result in additional investment cost of $350 a vehicle. It is estimated that compliance with safety standards through 1976 would add $523. It went on to suggest a "two-car strategy;" to provide low-emission cars where they are needed and lower-cost, higher-emission cars for areas where auto exhaust gases are not a major problem.

Another aspect is that auto producers predict that the service industry will not be able to cope with the number of tune-up jobs that pile up when cars get the full complement of pollution control devices two years from now. Mileage and performance will be seriously degraded according to the companies. Mileage may decrease as much as 50%. On test cars that normally get 17 to 18 mpg, mileage has dropped as low as eight: to 10 mpg after pollution control devices had been installed.

Dr. Philip Handler, president of the National Academy of Sciences, stated last May: "My special plea is that we do not, out of a combination of emotional zeal and ecological ignorance, hastily substitute environmental tragedy for existing environmental deterioration. Let's not replace known devils with insufficiently understood unknown devils."

Many echo the cry for application of common sense and realism in facing the economic and technological factors, and seek in these considerations a balancing of values, weighing the priorities and measuring the social and economic costs against the benefits. In that spirit we can accomplish the necessary task within the framework of continued technological progress.