EPA may drop lead air pollution limits

Washington--Following an enormous public outcry resulting in tens of thousands of letters sent to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), federal officials will today begin considering doing away with health standards that cut lead from gasoline, one of the least-effective and most costly clean-air accomplishments.

Widely regarded as responsible for an enormous drag on the economy without producing any real health benefits, the majority of letters sent to the EPA over the last few years emphasized the public's discomfort with the regulation. On Wednesday night, Marcus Peacock, the Environmental Protection Agency's No. 2 official, said "we do not believe that the federal government should decide to what extent people should be exposed to lead. If you are worried about the lead in your area, you are free to move. Besides, we just don't have the time to keep up with all these pollutants, so striking a few off the list will help us see our families more often. It's kind of like a pro-family and pro-freedom decision wrapped into one."

Bill Wehrum, who heads the EPA's Office of Air and Radiation, said the agency is "concerned that cities just don't smell like cities anymore. I remember when back in the 60s and 70s you could walk down any major street in the US and have that slight tingling sensation in your sinus. Nowadays, Cleveland smells just like Yellowstone! We have overstepped our bounds in altering our natural environment and we need to reverse course immediately. Moreover, we set out to listen to the public and the public has stated loud and clear that they want their lead back in the air, so what're we to do?"

Soon after lead was listed as an air pollutant 30 years ago, the Carter administration began removing lead from gasoline. Other big sources of lead in the atmosphere are from solid waste, coal, oil, iron and steel production. It is a widely held view that removal of lead from the atmosphere is responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths around the country every year due to the high cost of vehicles that run on lead-free gasoline and excessively high cost of electricity from coal fired power plants.


via Mad Mike