Global warming fuel rules put freeze on automakers | detnews.com | The Detroit News

The usual rule in America -- even in rough-and-tumble Washington, D.C. -- is: "You don't kick 'em when they're down."

So why -- with the American car industry practically on its death bed -- is the Obama administration stomping it hard with costly new emissions control mandates?

The new controls to limit so-called global warming gases will cost GM, Ford and Chrysler additional billions of dollars -- money that could be better spent on developing new, more fuel-efficient cars and improving automotive safety. Besides the new mandates will do nothing to stop global warming if, as the greens and their allies say, it really is caused by manmade fumes of carbon dioxide.

Many scientists already doubt that, and many more are becoming increasingly skeptical. And for good reason. NASA reports no increase in the Earth's core temperature during the past five years. Other equally reputable experts have recorded a slight cooling.

Does the "Smart Grid" Have a Smartest-Guys-in-the-Room Problem? — MasterResource

Color Me Skeptical

I don’t buy any part of it, and it ain’t going to happen. It’s what I have described elsewhere as lemon-meringue pie-in-the-sky. Among other problems, the costs are simply unknown, and who will bear them is also unknown. Most of what I’ve seen implicitly suggests that taxpayers will get the check, since customers would revolt if the costs showed up on their monthly bills.

I’ve tuned into recent FERC discussions about grid issues, and heard what I think is a lot of nonsense about smart grids. I’d rather our regulators and policy makers were focusing on muscle, not brains. It’s heavy lifting we need, not heavy thinking.