Thursday, June 24, 2010

Emissions Testing in Canyon County

I just got back from a trip to Los Angeles. There is an emissions testing facility at every street corner. There are regulations upon regulations heaped upon California drivers with proclaimed intent of "improving air quality". I noticed something obvious when driving around the Greater Los Angeles Area.

Their air quality SUCKS. I'll bet there are metropolitan areas of China with cleaner air.

Now, government is once again flexing their muscles, adding another method of control over the citizens of Canyon County. The DEQ is forcing CC residents to get their vehicles tested for emissions, despite the fact that there is zero empirical evidence that the quality of the air (you know, the air above large expanses of farm land and sparsely populated rural communities) will be improved. Of course the citizens of Canyon County for the most part, including myself, don't want this program, but that doesn't matter. Our elected officials and bureaucrats know what is best for us.

Butch Otter, who talks a big game with regard to non-compliance with the Feds, quickly showcased his love for top-down government by shunning CC's request to postpone the emissions testing. Frankly, he's a hypocrite of the tallest order. He whines and moans when the Feds get in State business, but puts counties firmly in their place in the pecking order when they have the same attitude towards the state government. So much for de-centralized government, eh, Butch?

Proponents of this legislation (who, from my experience, seem to eminate from outside Canyon County) are coming from several camps. There's the folks who think that the cost of the testing is negligible and not worth fighting over. There's the people think that there will be a marked reduction in air quality as a result of the testing. There's the people who'll get a nice stream of revenue now that government is threatening their new customers with violence if they don't stop by their little testing vans.

I'm glad that tax increases, when incrementally applied and of a nominal amount, are ok with some people. I tend to find theft of any kind repugnant and immoral, but that's just my opinion. Taxation is theft, and this testing fee is nothing more than a tax increase, which will subsidize private businesses who conduct the tests, and will add more revenue to the coffers of the DEQ's ever expanding bureaucracy. They will certainly use the money to come up with new and innovative ways to limit freedom, or at least make it more expensive.

Private property rights are the solution to reduced pollution. Forcing compliance with environmental policy based on junk science is not. The quality of air in Canyon County is fine. I have yet to see a haze of smog over Middleton, Idaho. However, I can't speak for Parma, Notus, Greenleaf, Wilder, or any number of other Metropoli that put literally hundreds of cars on the roads every day (please sense the sarcasm). Emissions testing simply doesn't work to improve air quality. If it did, there wouldn't be a yellow haze of poison gas over Los Angeles 24/7/365. This effort doesn't have any benevolent intent. It's a thinly veiled excuse to expand the power of the state. They exploit everyone's fears of environmental impact, or concern for "being green", to acquire yet another method of forcing individuals to obey their needless decrees.

I'll bet the folks in the little red vans are stoked. With their microcosm of fascism, they get to line their pockets with cash gained by force. I wonder how well my web business would do if I could get laws passed that threatened people with fines and incarceration if they didn't use my services? I desperately need a lobbyist in Boise.

I applaud Canyon County's act of civil disobedience. I hope they stay firm and do not get their vehicles tested. Frankly, their effort provides me an incentive to follow suit.