BWC to EPA: Get the Lead Out! (Of the Air We Breathe)

A Decades-Old Standard is Going to be Updated, and the EPA is Waffling

Mmmm...Waffles

Ah, 1978. The Bee Gees were playing on the radio, people tuned in for Little House on the Prairie every week, and Grease was the word on the big screen. 1978 is also the year the EPA last set national pollution standards for lead.

A lot has changed in the last 30 years, but at least one thing hasn't: lead is still a public health hazard. Lead can cause learning disabilities and decreased growth in children. It can also cause severe damage to the blood-forming, nervous, urinary, and reproductive systems in adults.

Despite these health consequences, the EPA has not improved its thirty-year-old standard despite laws requiring it to review that standard every five years. Because of this blatant disregard of its duties, the agency was ordered to review the lead standard by a federal court in 2005.

The EPA's own scientists and advisers have concluded that the agency should beef up the current airborne lead standard of 1.5 micrograms per cubic meter to a level below 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter. As usual, EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson is ignoring his scientists and is pushing for a range of standards between 0.1 and 0.3 micrograms per cubic meter. The EPA's own science shows that the high end of this proposed range is not safe.

The EPA is accepting public comments on its proposed new standards through July 21st.

We urge our readers to Drive Change by contacting the EPA before the July 21st deadline and letting them know you support strong controls on lead pollution.

The author of this piece, Sunil Somalwar, is a friend of a member of Better World Club and a Professor of Physics at Rutgers University. We at BWC agree with Mr. Somalwar that coal is a dirty form of fuel that needs to be replaced with more sustainable options, but we disagree with the notion that electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles should not be used until our electric grid is powered without coal.

BWC members, we ask you to read Mr. Somalwar's article and let us know what you think.

Prius and Prejudice: A Case against the Electric Car

by Sunil Somalwar

To paraphrase Jane Austen, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single-minded environmentalist in possession of a good fortune must be in want of an electric car. Indeed, it is a common prejudice that since the Prius hybrid is efficient because it uses gasoline to generate electricity on board, an electric car that plugs into a wall socket must be equally good for the environment. Luckily, the numbers needed to address this prejudice are simple enough that one need not rely on somebody else's opinion. Complete Story

Additional Ways to Get Where You're Going:

"Daddy, where do greenhouse gases come from?"
"Well, when two oxygen atoms and one carbon atom love each other very much, they bond and then float up into the atmosphere. Then they change weather patterns and kill polar bears."

Next-Gen Prius: What Will a Little Sunshine Get You?

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TechNewsWorld

The Toyota Prius will reportedly soon sport solar panels to feed the hybrid vehicle's power supply. While solar energy is free and clean, it's only enough to help out a little with the car's AC system, not power its engine. Critics say Toyota might be wiser to direct its research and development toward plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. Complete Story