It’s not sporting to hit a big target — but it sure is easy.
Maybe that’s why politicians in Europe and America have put SUVs in
the crosshairs. The heavy luxury sedans with big V-8 engines
favored by the elites run silent and deep — avoiding
finger-pointing social opprobrium and punitive legislation. But
SUVs — which bring size and powerful engines within reach of the
masses — aren’t so invisible.
Enraged that the other 95 percent of the socio-economic strata
have access to machines larger and more capable than the Toyota
Echos and Geo Prizms they’d like to force everyone else to drive —
elites in government and the media are working overtime to slay the
SUV, portraying it as a sheet-metal satan responsible for “global
warming” and all manner of social ills.
In Europe, pols are trying to impose massive targeted tax hikes
that would make SUVs all but unaffordable to anyone without “Lord”
in front of his name; the mayor of London has openly called SUV
drivers “complete idiots” — and in Paris, efforts are afoot to ban
SUVs from using the roads entirely. Here in America, Senators John
McCain and Joe Lieberman have been attempted to achieve the same
thing via their so-called Climate Stewardship Act — which would
curtail the ability of the auto industry to build large SUVs and
make ownership of the few that remain much more costly. Although
the bill was voted down last fall, new efforts are underway,
including by religious leaders, among them the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops, to pressure Senate leaders to reintroduce the
legislation.
Limits on SUVs would be achieved by a clever end run that
doesn’t target SUVs specifically or openly — just “greenhouse
gasses” like carbon dioxide, which would have to be reduced to 2000
levels by 2010. But the last remaining major byproduct of internal
combustion is — you guessed it — carbon dioxide. Advances in
pollution control technology have cleaned-up almost all the harmful
stuff that used to be produced by automobile engines, things like
volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and oxides of nitrogen (NOX).
These are the compounds that contributed to poor air quality — and
smog. But carbon dioxide (CO2) is a harmless, inert gas. It is not
a “pollutant” in the sense that VOCs and NOX emissions are. And as
far as “global warming” goes, water vapor is known to be a much
more potent “greenhouse” gas.
In any case, emissions of CO2 from natural sources such as
erupting volcanoes dwarf man-made output from all sources —
including heavy industry. Motor vehicles produce a small fraction
of the total output of man-made CO2 and SUVs — which only account
for about half the vehicles on the road — a fraction of that
fraction. Even if every SUV currently on the road were to be
forcibly retired tomorrow, the net reduction in total carbon
dioxide output from all sources would be minuscule — less than 2
percent overall. And that’s if you buy into the reality of
human-caused “global warming” — by no means a proven thing. Many
scientists believe that the Earth experiences naturally occurring
fluctuations in climate over which man has little control. The
important point is the science is by no means settled — despite
the agit-prop being spoon fed by special interests to such as
Messrs. McCain and Lieberman — and then regurgitated by them in
front of TV cameras. Neither man has any scientific background or
credentials to weigh in on the issue; their knowledge of the
subject is obviously superficial and politically slanted.
The bottom line is that the restrictions and disincentives being
conjured up to make SUV owners sweat won’t do much for “global
warming” — real or not. But they will cost everyone — not just
SUV owners — wads of cash. Though “energy taxes” haven’t been
mentioned by Messrs. McCain and Lieberman, that’s precisely what
the Climate Stewardship Act would give us — to the tune of $106
billion annually, according to the nonpartisan Energy Information
Agency. That’s a good deal more than the “modest impact” claimed by
McCain when he touts this legislation.
“Deep Impact” is more like it, because it would put the American
economy in a hole and reduce the Western world’s standard of living
as effectively as an asteroid from outer space crashing into
Manhattan.
Of course, guys like McCain and Lieberman can push this sort of
thing because they, personally, won’t be affected. Rich and
powerful senators can afford $5 per gallon fuel — and a couple
hundred bucks per year in energy taxes. No one will be taking away
their V-8 S-Class Mercedes-Benzes and BMW sedans, though these suck
just as much gas and spew just as much C02 as any SUV.
What apparently bothers these fellows the most is not the
“greenhouse gasses” but who gets to emit them.
