California, not
the White House, leads
Commentary
by PAT MURPHY
If
President Bush treated the war on terrorism the way he treats
environmental pollution, Al Qaeda terrorist Osama bin Laden and the
fanatical Taliban would still be riding high in Afghanistan, thumbing
their noses at Americans.
Bush
spares nothing to subdue terrorism, including police powers that nibble
at the basic fabric of American liberties. The White House, as an
example, is considering unprecedented police powers for the U.S.
military over civilians. Attorney General John Ashcroft already is
detaining suspects indefinitely without a lawyer, without charges and
without appeal.
But
Republicans find one White House ploy so offensive to American
traditions that a House committee chaired by ultraconservative Rep. Dick
Armey, D-Texas, opposes it: Ashcroft’s plan to create a national spy
network with his TIPS program ("Terrorism Information and
Prevention System") that would recruit informants to pass along to
Justice raw, undocumented information and rumors about
"suspicious" behavior of people and their activities.
But as
for air pollution, whose eventual effects could be more damaging to more
people over time if not attacked early, President Bush seems oblivious
and actually encourages pollution through deliberate inaction. He even
rejected pollution reports of his own science advisers as nonsense from
"bureaucrats."
The
president seems paralyzed by dictates from polluting industries and
political handlers who’re contemptuous of controls on noxious
emissions into air and water. He rejected the international Kyoto
Treaty, and now refuses to get tough at home with polluters.
So, since
he won’t lead, California will: Gov. Gray Davis has signed a law
requiring the auto industry to adopt new technologies by 2009 that’ll
reduce greenhouse gases.
Although
California is often mocked as the incubator of goofy trends, and, to
some, "the largest exporter of nuts," the state has been
singularly aggressive in environmental protection, especially cleaning
up air pollutants that once made the Los Angeles Basin a respiratory
nightmare – but which hasn’t had a smog alert since 1998.
Since
California accounts for 10 percent of Detroit’s sales market, Detroit
will be forced to produce all vehicles to California standards, which
will be good for the entire country.
Not
surprisingly, Detroit talks of trying to repeal the new law in court or
at the polls. Carmakers whine they face ruin if the law stands.
Americans
have seen these tantrums before. When opposing the Clean Air Act of
1970, the American Automobile Manufacturers Association whimpered it
couldn’t meet standards, predicting that "manufacturers … would
be forced to shut down." Another industry figure testified to a
Senate committee that 1979 fuel economy rules would "restrict the
industry to producing subcompact cars or even smaller ones."
After all
the blubbering, Detroit went on to produce a full range of cars,
including large SUVs, and garnered record profits, thank you.
Today’s
cleaner, better-performing vehicles are the result of Detroit being
dragged kicking and screaming into higher standards and social
responsibility.
Had the
Detroit obstructionists 30 years ago been successful in beating back
laws for improved performance and safety, there’d be no catalytic
converter to control auto emissions, no vastly improved gasoline
mileage, no seat belts, no safety air bags, and no safety seats for tots
– all of which long ago proved their worth and public endorsement, but
all opposed by Detroit.
President
Bush talks like a fierce gladiator about homeland security. But the
president seems in ho-hum denial about the air pollution enemy that
could cripple the well being of tens of millions of Americans for
generations to come in their homeland.