Maybe we should be dumping our waste oil and antifreeze on the ground too, I mean heck I have the right to do what I want right?
A typical, emotional, senseless bleeding-heart response... and also a typical statement from someone who has no clue whatsoever of the difference between "rights" and "liberties".
Comparing the burning of wood to the dumping of waste oil is total bull$h!t. First of all, there is
law banning the dumping of waste oil that predates the EPA. Are you getting that?? A
"law", not a
"regulation". We are a nation of laws, they fit entirely within the Constitution of our nation... and it is entirely constitutional for a law to limit, or even remove a
liberty under certain circumstances (such as public safety). A
right is
protected by
law, a
liberty may be
limited or
removed by
law. No one has ever had the
right to burn wood in this country, you are at
liberty to burn wood... and it's the same with dumping waste oil. At one time you were at
liberty to dispose of waste oil any way you chose, that
liberty became limited by
law. The fact is, you're still at
liberty to dump waste oil on the ground... but you'll pay the penalty prescribed by
societal law if caught. That's the way it works, that's the way it was intended to work.
There is no
law banning the burning of wood. Take a drive through any camp ground during summer and you'll see dozens of open fires... fires emitting massive amounts of smoke. Farmers clear fence lines and wooded areas all the time, pushing it into huge piles and setting it on fire... massive clouds of smoke rising into the air. Even Forest Service set tracts of wooded land on fire as part of the management plan. Placing
regulations on the "wood-fired heater" industry is not
law affecting everyone... it doesn't make an action
illegal (such as burning wood), it tells an industry
how they must produce a product (i.e., you can only produce it our way, not your way). So, while the camper can still burn wet, green wood in his fire pit, pumping massive amounts of smoke in the air, I have to spend hundreds, even thousands, on a "specially"
regulated appliance to burn wood heating my home. Why isn't the camper placed under the same
emissions standard as I am?? Or the farmer?? Or the Forest Service for that matter?? I'll tell you why... because this has
absolutely nothing to do with pollution... it's a political game, a tree-hugger power grab, total BS.
Here's how this works... it's called "sue and settle".
A few environmental groups out east don't like the wood smoke in certain areas (and they likely have a point in heavily populated areas). They appeal to state and local lawmakers to do something. The tree-hugger lawmakers know damn well if they start banning wood-fired heaters they'll likely loose the next election... or possibly they know there ain't enough tree-huggers in their law-making body to get anything passed. So they join forces with the environmental groups to sue the EPA (also a bunch of tree-huggers under this administration) for not doing their job. The EPA says, "Oh my goodness, a law suit is expensive, how about we make some new regulations... will you drop your law suit if we do??" Likely this was all negotiated between the Obama administration and the environmental groups well before any law suit is filed... because it's the suit that gives "cause" for new regulation. Well now... we have a win for the tree-huggers, don't we?? The whole damn country is slammed with bull$h!t regulation... which is the ultimate goal of the bleeding-hearts anyway. And another industry is more heavily regulated by government... a power grab.
California, Oregon and Washington had tighter regulations because of "local" need for them... but that ain't good enough for the bleeding-heart, tree-huggers out east (or they flat couldn't get it done). Nope... they want every state to do what they think needs doing in their local area. Out here where I live, in a sparsely populated area, wood smoke ain't a problem... but, ya' can't have a power grab by making local
law, it only works by across-the-board industry regulation.
It ain't about environmental pollution like contaminating the ground water with waste oil... it never has been.
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