Just to clarify, in case there was a misunderstanding, my intention was to source your statement, out of curiosity, not to dispute it. In those efforts, I came across the article I cited.
I can't agree with your posts more, except to say you give EPA a greater benefit of the doubt than I do as to their falling prey to the law of unintended consequences.
The EPA is an agency out of control and drunk with power. Their use of science is dubious at best, and most often deliberately negligent. In fact I would go so far as to say often criminal.
Case in point is an example you cite:
"The ban of regular lightbulbs will lead to mercury filled landfills as the new bulbs are discarded. How long before a child is diagnosed with mercury poisoning after breaking a bulb?"
This infuriates me far more than the subject under discussion. How could the EPA NOT be aware of the consequences of filling out landfills with mercury and proliferating a known toxin into the environment where our children, the most vulnerable to mercury's toxic effects, spend the greatest amount of their time---their homes?
While compact fluorescent lamps used in homes are not legally classified as hazardous waste....
WHY NOT? We all know why, and we all know that that will SURELY be the next step when this regulation goes into full implementation.
If a compact fluorescent lamp breaks in your home, open nearby windows immediately to disperse any mercury vapor that may escape, carefully sweep up the glass fragments, and wipe the area with a disposable paper towel to remove any remaining fragments. Do not try to pick up glass fragments with your hands, and do not use a vacuum. Place all glass fragments in a sealed plastic bag and dispose of them with your other household trash.
I agree with you about the CFL controversy.
My point when I wrote above about the courts no longer being the first choice of environmentalists to force their views illustrates this.
Fact, environmental radicals now hold key positions of power in this administration. The EPA is now staffed with the same Sierra Club types who used to hijack the courts to impose their views. Sadly, the courts, EPA, congress, and this administration are all staffed with persons whose ideas are best described as radically anti-capitalist. They are using the agencies of government to impose their will because they have spent years taking over those agencies (see the State Department - a mini-UN within our own government).
Obama can’t sell his agenda to congress so the radicals he brought with him to D.C. are using the agencies he put them in charge of to implement “change”. Congress (including Boehner and the 2010 crowd) have allowed them to get away with it.