[predatorpower]

Check this out:ATTORNEY GENERAL WILL ASK EPA TODAY FOR TOUGHER EMISSION RULES

By Steve Geissinger
Mercury News Sacramento Bureau

Article Launched: 01/29/2008 01:32:53 AM PST

SACRAMENTO - Attorney General Jerry Brown will petition federal regulators today to set stricter emission standards on off-road toys such as snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles and personal watercraft - an idea that manufacturers insist would trigger higher prices, lower performance and possibly even be the demise of some off-road vehicles.

Brown said he wants the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to exercise its authority under the Clean Air Act and court decisions to set greenhouse-gas emission standards for new off-road equipment, which also includes tractors, forklifts and some lawn mowers.

The EPA, which has so far failed to grant California ’s wishes under the Bush administration, has been ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court to act on global warming issues and is under increasing pressure from Democrats in Congress.

EPA spokesman Jonathan Shradar said his agency would not comment on the petition until it is filed by Brown. It seems highly unlikely, however, that the EPA - at least while President Bush is in office - would embrace Brown’s position.

Most of the off-road equipment affected by the petition are construction and agricultural equipment. All told, the petition addresses more than 17 million machines in California .

Brown’s move would be the latest effort in an ongoing battle by California and other states to win federal controls on greenhouse-gas emissions for cars, planes and ships, or autonomy to set their own standards.

Brown spokesman Gareth Lacy said the Attorney General’s Office also is eyeing action on trains but said locomotives were excluded from today’s petition because the issue involves different technological and legal issues.

In light of predicted global-warming consequences such as flooding, Brown said that “it’s either this, or go to high ground and wait.”

Brown acknowledged he was delving into “sensitive territory” by including recreational vehicles but said it is necessary.

Derrick Crandall, a spokesman for the American Recreation Coalition in Washington , D.C. , which represents recreational equipment enthusiasts and major manufacturers, said he supports environmental protection but said the industry wants to work with government on solutions rather than see mandates.

Crandall said the consequences for strict new emission standards might reach beyond making off-road equipment such as motorcycles, ATVs and boats less powerful and lighter weight.

“It just might even rule out certain kinds of vehicles in their entirety,” he said. “We need to be very careful about major new public policy initiatives.”

Crandall expressed concern that recreational equipment had been included with other off-road, industrial vehicles. Non-recreational vehicles account for more than 85 percent of the 220 million metric tons of greenhouse-gases spewed annually across the nation - the equivalent of 40 million cars.

But Brown said recreational equipment is a swiftly growing part of the off-road vehicle sector. He cited a California Air Resources Board study in his petition that estimated carbon dioxide emissions from recreational equipment and pleasure craft each grew by about one-third between 1990 and last year.

The increase in emissions from construction and mining machines in the state grew at a slightly faster pace of 35 percent, while industrial machines trailed at 9 percent.

Mark Baldassare, director of the independent Public Policy Institute of California poll, said that “this global warming proposal puts to the test statements by Californians in polls that they’re willing to seek changes, even if there are financial consequences.”

Jack Pitney, a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College , isn’t sure the public would make that choice.

“People favor strong action on the environment, and are even willing to say that no price for environmental protection is too high,” Pitney said, “until they themselves must pay it.”

Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, a Temecula Republican who has been active in supporting off-road motorized recreation, said today’s petition was “essentially useless” and would be “prohibitively costly if implemented.”

The states of Oregon , New Jersey , Massachusetts and Connecticut joined California ’s petition today while the Western Environmental Law Center filed a similar request.

“This is going to happen,” said center spokesman Dan Galpern. “The handwriting is on the wall.”

[shelvis]

Brown is a nut case and he will stop at nothing. The state of California is fighting the Federal Government to get them to adopt our rules for pollution and what not which are much more stringent than the feds rules currently are. If they win this then the entire country is going to have to go the way of California!

Not gonna be pretty I tell ya......gonna get ugly!

[rivermobster]

They got shot down last time they tried something like this. Remember the diesel engine scam?? Cooler minds will prevail.

[shelvis]

I hope so.....we have an entire dept at our office working with the San Diego Regional Energy Group and the State of California on trying to get all the counties in compliance with the new California laws.....they are insanely stiff and Brown wants the entire nation to adopt them and counties that do not comply I believe will be fined......IF I remember what I heard at work correctly?!

[Danzkawi]

more goveernment BS

[predatorpower]

rivermobster, on Feb 13 2008, 09:11 PM, said:

They got shot down last time they tried something like this. Remember the diesel engine scam?? Cooler minds will prevail.

Hope your right Joe, but it sure is a back handed way @ getting at off-road people by throwing them in with all other emissions not on a highway. And the way I see it thats just what he's trying to do. He can kill two birds with one stone, prohibit the sale of bikes and atv's and closing riding land because of there emissions is the perfect vehicle to accomplish that all the while getting a pat the back from the "GREEN" crowd for saving the planet, and the poeple who just hate our sport would just live to see us all go away for good.

It time for us all to really stop and look at what is going on here. They are trying to BAN our lifestyle, all the while promoting their own and others I don't agree with. Is that freedom? It time for us all to stop thinking this won't affect me. Because it has or will.

The Bush admin. is fighting this way of thinking will the next?

This post has been edited by predatorpower: 14 February 2008 - 09:01 AM

[rivermobster]

predatorpower, on Feb 14 2008, 08:59 AM, said:

rivermobster, on Feb 13 2008, 09:11 PM, said:

They got shot down last time they tried something like this. Remember the diesel engine scam?? Cooler minds will prevail.

Hope your right Joe, but it sure is a back handed way @ getting at off-road people by throwing them in with all other emissions not on a highway. And the way I see it thats just what he's trying to do. He can kill two birds with one stone, prohibit the sale of bikes and atv's and closing riding land because of there emissions is the perfect vehicle to accomplish that all the while getting a pat the back from the "GREEN" crowd for saving the planet, and the poeple who just hate our sport would just live to see us all go away for good.

It time for us all to really stop and look at what is going on here. They are trying to BAN our lifestyle, all the while promoting their own and others I don't agree with. Is that freedom? It time for us all to stop thinking this won't affect me. Because it has or will.

The Bush admin. is fighting this way of thinking will the next?

even if we do get a rebuplican in office, its still gonna be a battle. if we get a demm in there??? we are screwed!!!!

[what hurts?]

Until all the countries of the world unite and do something together nothing will change. California will pollute less and China will pollute more, it's a see-saw battle, we're not in a bubble air pollution travels. It all stems from overpaid government officials trying to justify their job by appearing to do something and saving the world. In reality they are costing billions of hardworking Americans money by making us comply to their trivial laws that in the grand scheme of things won't do a bit of good.

Okay rant over, geez I sound bitter.

[shelvis]

what hurts?, on Feb 14 2008, 10:02 PM, said:

Until all the countries of the world unite and do something together nothing will change. California will pollute less and China will pollute more, it's a see-saw battle, we're not in a bubble air pollution travels. It all stems from overpaid government officials trying to justify their job by appearing to do something and saving the world. In reality they are costing billions of hardworking Americans money by making us comply to their trivial laws that in the grand scheme of things won't do a bit of good.

Okay rant over, geez I sound bitter.

Well said!!!

[predatorpower]

rivermobster, on Feb 14 2008, 09:23 AM, said:

predatorpower, on Feb 14 2008, 08:59 AM, said:

rivermobster, on Feb 13 2008, 09:11 PM, said:

They got shot down last time they tried something like this. Remember the diesel engine scam?? Cooler minds will prevail.

Hope your right Joe, but it sure is a back handed way @ getting at off-road people by throwing them in with all other emissions not on a highway. And the way I see it thats just what he's trying to do. He can kill two birds with one stone, prohibit the sale of bikes and atv's and closing riding land because of there emissions is the perfect vehicle to accomplish that all the while getting a pat the back from the "GREEN" crowd for saving the planet, and the poeple who just hate our sport would just live to see us all go away for good.

It time for us all to really stop and look at what is going on here. They are trying to BAN our lifestyle, all the while promoting their own and others I don't agree with. Is that freedom? It time for us all to stop thinking this won't affect me. Because it has or will.

The Bush admin. is fighting this way of thinking will the next?

even if we do get a rebuplican in office, its still gonna be a battle. if we get a demm in there??? we are screwed!!!!

Oh, your right Joe , all three of them agree with this kind of thinking. We are screwed!

[rivermobster]

what hurts?, on Feb 14 2008, 10:02 PM, said:

Until all the countries of the world unite and do something together nothing will change. California will pollute less and China will pollute more, it's a see-saw battle, we're not in a bubble air pollution travels. It all stems from overpaid government officials trying to justify their job by appearing to do something and saving the world. In reality they are costing billions of hardworking Americans money by making us comply to their trivial laws that in the grand scheme of things won't do a bit of good.

Okay rant over, geez I sound bitter.

Not to mention the third world countries!!! Ever see the pics of countries where they have ship scraping yards?? They basicly beach old tankers and container ships, and saw em up right on the beach. It is absolutely disgusting. The mess they make is unreal, and it all goes right in the sea...

[kerplunk]

Here's a thought:

Mexico has millions of acres of pristine OHV areas. Why not let CA close everything down? WE can head south, play there, and let CA and the Feds scrammble for the lost dollars. This is an economic battle of supply and demand. Right now, there is more money being funneled to the environmental side. how do we change that?