CO2 the bad guy?

Dear Editor:Once again, Ms. Roybal-Allard misleads her constituents into supporting economically destructive policies that left-wing politicians are shoving down our throats. ("Protecting Our Air and Public Health," 4/14/11) No one likes pollution or "particulates" in the air, but someone please explain to me how the gas that all animals exhale and all plants inhale to survive counts as a "particulate" in the air that must be regulated? Ms. Allard doesn't bother explaining the "science" of this in her emotion-full, logic-lacking plea for EPA regulation of CO2 - regulation that will distract from the removal of real "particulates," stifle economic growth, eliminate jobs, and force all of us to pay much higher prices for energy than we do today. The Supreme Court case she mentions basically says that the EPA can regulate CO2 - in a 5-4 decision - because Congress gave them a broad license to do so (Congress can't be bothered with all the details in their laws - I gather they're mostly big vision people - so they pass the buck to other agencies whose leaders are not elected or held accountable by the people). Blue states sued the EPA to regulate CO2 because Dr. Al Gore warned everyone that the coasts would all be underwater in 50 years if we didn't. Jump ahead four years. Apparently, Dr. Al Gore has lost his license to practice hysterical fear-mongering, and his predictions are taken about as seriously as the recent warning that the end of the world will happen next month. Setting aside her speculative statistics - like it is even possible to prove prevention of "premature mortality" - I would like to add how left out I felt because I am not of Latino descent. Does Ms. Allard care that blacks, whites, Asians, Arabs, Armenians, etc…all breathe the same Californian air as Latinos? She claims that CA voters did the right thing by voting down Prop 23, but she will soon find out that pristine air devoid of "particulates" and CO2 comes at a steep price: there will be no one left in CA to breathe it! -- Alaina Niemann, Downey

********** Published: April 21, 2011 - Volume 10 - Issue 1