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[Jeremy Portzer <jeremyp AT pobox.com>]

On Thu, 2004-07-15 at 10:44, zman wrote:
> On Thu, 15 Jul 2004, Alan MacHett wrote:
> > Agreed.  But you can't discount the cars, well, automobiles of all types. 
> > You can't possibly look at the Beltline and tell me vehicles aren't a
> > problem.
> 
> Yes but they seem to take the brunt of the heat. I just looked out the 
> window at the construction across the street, those machines are putting 
> out some crud. Everytime I see a semi take off at a light. And on the 
> beltline yeah the 1000 SUV's with a 90lb woman and no one else. Until next 
> year they are still classified as trucks (farm equipment).

Just because construction vehicles are putting out visible crud (i.e.,
carbon in the smoke) doesn't mean they are polluting all that badly. 
What really matters is things like sulfur (causes acid rain), nitrous
oxides (causes smog), etc -- these are invisible.  Controlling these
pollutants requires different measures that controlling the visible
pollutants that you can see out your window.  The EPA's "Tier 2" program
for deisel emissions is making a big dent in these problems.

However, I have heard that much of the pollution, even among
automobiles, is caused by a very small number of vehicles.  This is
partially driven by the desire to "grandfather" all old cars from new
pollution requirements.  Yet a 1970's clunker can output something like
100 times the emissions of a 2004 vehicle -- maybe it's time we came up
with programs to buy off these old polluters from those who still drive
them.

--Jeremy, not chemist or anything, this is just what I've heard

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| Jeremy Portzer        jeremyp AT pobox.com      trilug.org/~jeremy     |
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