One Day Removed

For all my negativity and sarcasm I might present regarding our new administration, I am really looking forward to Lisa Jackson taking over as EPA chief. Actually, I care less who Obama chose than as much as I'm looking forward to Stephen Johnson's ousting, now only one day removed.

Good Riddance.

Now is also a good time, in my humble little opinion, to stop having to use these ridiculous phrases like "the first African American to head the EPA," or the "fourth woman," or the "second New Jerseyan." I don't give a shit, and neither should you, about the race, gender, home state, favorite hockey team, or whether the EPA administrator spits or swallows. What we should care about is whether or not Jackson will do the correct thing as administrator, to protect human health and the environment. Not to play political hackey sack with Obama. I am personally interested in how she will handle California's AB32.

The correct thing would be to side with the unanimous recommendations of EPA scientific staff and legal experts and grant California the waiver so that we, along with the 16 other states that have committed alongside, can take more forceful action towards climate change. Personally, I care much, much less about climate change as I do about the myriad ancillary effects that a reduction in moble source pollutants would have on my local environment. I've said it before and I'll say it again -- take care of your local environment, and the global environment will follow.

Seeing how we are incapable of anything other than squandering all our national wealth on building more freeways, overpasses and tunnels, the least we could do would be to better manage our tailpipe pollutants. Indeed, there is no doubt that AB 32 will categorically increase fuel economy, lower accelerations, result in less expensive vehicles, will require less imported energy, and will result in lowered localized pollution.