Beam me to Planet Gore !
Posted on 07/07/2009 3:11:11 AM PDT by Man50D
Americans use more 200 million pounds of fireworks each year, the majority on July Fourth. Because fireworks emit carbon dioxide (CO2) as they burn, however, the fireworks industry may come under tighter regulation if cap-and-trade legislation passes in the Senate in coming months.
A cap-and-trade bill already passed in the House on June 26, which has raised concerns that Americans will soon be paying more for energy.
The House bill, called the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, introduces the possibility of calculating the amount of carbon emitted by products and labeling the products with this information.
“The (EPA) administrator shall conduct a study to determine the feasibility of establishing a national program for measuring, reporting, publicly disclosing, and labeling products or materials sold in the United States for their carbon content,” the act lays out in Section 274.
David Chavez, a chemist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and a fireworks expert, said that most consumer fireworks in the U.S. are sold around Independence Day, but carbon emissions from fireworks are only a tiny piece of the carbon-emission pie.
“Compared to other sources of CO2 emission, pyrotechnics is probably not even in the ballpark,” Chavez told CNSNews.com.
According to the American Pyrotechnic Association, in 2008, Americans used 213 million pounds all told -- including 186 million pounds purchased by individual consumers and 27 million pounds used in professional displays.
Chavez said that in a worst-case scenario, carbon dioxide emissions from fireworks would amount to 0.006 percent of the total emissions for the nation.
“Basically, the amount of pollution created by all fireworks in this scenario would be equal to about the amount of CO2 produced by 50,000 average Americans annually,” he told CNSNews.com.
According to the Clean Energy and Security Act, the term “carbon footprint” refers to the level of greenhouse gas emissions produced by a particular activity, service or entity.
The “carbon lifecycle” of a product is the greenhouse gas emissions that are released as part of the processes of creating, producing, processing or manufacturing, modifying, transporting, distributing, storing, using, recycling, or disposing of goods and services.
Both the footprint and the lifecycle of the fireworks industry would come under government scrutiny if the cap-and-trade bill is enacted as proposed.
The precise effects of cap-and-trade on firework consumption remains unclear, but some scientists are currently trying to develop “green,” environmentally friendly fireworks, which they hope will supplant traditional fireworks.
“A new generation of ‘green’ fireworks is quietly making its way toward the sky,” Michael Bernstein of the American Chemical Society said in a press release.
Just when you wonder how stupid our Rat Congress can get, it becomes even stupider.
Is there no end to this Climate Change nonsense!
It would have been safer and preferable for AlGore Inventor of the Internet(R) to be allowed to be POTUS. At least his madness would have been subjected to checks-and-balances. Unleashed, he has become a monster.
The Saracuda is also unleashed now. Things will get interesting.
There’s not going to by anything left that we recognize by next summer if this keeps up.
Big “if.”
When the powers of darkness come in like a flood, the Lord will raise up a standard.
America (the people, not the gummit) wasn’t born yesterday. It may take a while to grasp what is happening, but when it does, watch out!
Yes, watch out. The government has gotten so much control. It’s not going to want to give it up.
It is fascinating to see how polarizing Obama is.
The 40% of Americans who could have voted for some presidential candidate last year, but didn’t, are an awfully huge Atlas. When they care enough to shrug......
A trait shared by........how many? This is a test...!
....these inspections will begin in what neighborhoods...I believe I have an idea..... What neighborhoods will be avoided by these "inspectors"...? GRIN
The Democrats in our town were working hard to get the fireworks cancelled this year.
They started out by saying by getting the Democrats on the County Freeholder Board to cut the subsidy that the county has been provding for the past twenty years.
Then they argued that there was not enough money, since the town was furloughing some employees, and that any money the town had should be spent on reducing the scope of the furlough.
After the furlough, the Democrats argued that spending money on the fireworks was inappropriate because it would hurt the feelings of the employees who had been furloughed.
Then the Democrats on the County Freeholder Board announced that they were going to fund the fireworks at a nearby town, which has a more “diverse” population and lower incomes, because they wanted to be “inclusive”.
After that town failed to match the funds, causing that display to fall through, the county finally came up with the same subsidy as in years past. The county money was lined up and the town money was lined up.
Then the Democrats played their final two cards.
First they said that the town was going to have to spend a boatload of money to put in temporary provisions to make the fireworks “accessible” to the handicapped. This was shot down in short order.
An, finally, they started whining about CO2 and global warming. By this time, it was too late to stop things from going forward. I got the feeling that they were just establishing a place-holder, for when they try to kill the fireworks for next year.
I don’t know why they had it in for the fireworks display. It is a time-honored tradition that everybody in town enjoys. But they played every card in their hand trying to get them cancelled, and I don’t think they are going to give up.
Anything and everything patriotic is targeted........ Let's move the targets to the proper locations....
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