"Mowing down high emissions"

Denver Post Editorial

The Post lauds the federal government's new requirement that lawn mowers produce fewer emissions.

According to the Post, the new requirements are necessary to address "global warming and fossil-fuel dependency."

First, the Post blithely assumes that global warming is man made. Of course they do.

Second, the new federal requirements mean that catalytic converters will be mandatory on lawn mowers. Catalytic converters make engines less efficient, thereby requiring MORE gas to run.

Catalytic converters, while cutting down on emissions, create MORE greenhouse gases than an engine without a converter.

Catalytic converters are hardly compatible with either goal - lessening fossil-fuel dependency or curtailing global warming.

It appears the Post really hasn't put that much thought into the issue, has it? But the Post is steadfast in its overriding philosophy that government regulation is always a good idea. Even when it patently is not.

The Post is incorrect when it says "the changes will mean a more efficient combustion process, which will save about 190 million gallons of gasoline each year." The assertion is just wrong.

But even if it were true, then why is it necessary for the government to mandate something that consumers are actively seeking? It is not.

The Post's utopian green fantasy continues:

The reduced emissions also are expected to result in reduced hospitalizations, fewer premature deaths and lost work days. The public health benefits of the new rules will be an estimated $1.6 billion to $4.4 billion annually by 2030, according to the EPA.

Estimated? We all know how reliable government estimates are. (See the estimate on the cost of FasTracks). Government estimates are concocted by self-serving bureaucrats that only wish to expand their power or protect their fiefdom.

The "estimates" are worth as much as a prescription from a witch doctor. Which is appropriate, since Al Gore's Cult of the Green relies on black magic to create its utopia.

The bottom line on the new federal regulations: They hurt they causes they purport to address and they make lawn mowers cost more.