Note to Republicans: It's OK to Care About the Environment

Here is some news on recently passed legislation to limit auto emissions. And from a state with a Republican governor! Who guessed it could happen? If New York is able to get this to stick, other Northeastern states will follow so this has some pretty far reaching implications. Let's hope the auto industry lobbyists don't kill this.

Environmentalists say the regulations will not lead to the extinction of any class of vehicle, but simply pressure the industry to sell more of the fuel-saving technologies they have already developed, including hybrid systems that use a combination of electricity and gasoline. And that, they say, will curtail one of the main contributors to global warming.

"The two biggest contributors to global warming are power plants and motor vehicles," said David Doniger, a senior lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "If you deal with them, you deal with more than two-thirds of the problem."

But automakers contend that the regulations will limit the availability of many sport utility vehicles, pickup trucks, vans and larger sedans, since they will effectively require huge leaps in gas mileage to rein in emissions. The industry also says the rules will force them to curb sales of more-powerful engines in the state, and ultimately harm consumers by increasing the cost of vehicles.

"Harm consumers?" How do they figure? Since when did doing things in the best interests of the planet and future generations fall under the category of "harm?" If we need to pay a cost penalty to reduce the detrimental effects of all the driving we do, so be it. And I say this as an SUV owning fool...