Agreed.  But it still stinks that it affects us and others in the
community that are trying to help not hurt, and are still not allowed
to do so because of bureaucratic or administrative resource
shortfalls.

Jim Akiba

On 3/4/08, Vern in Bend <vernmcintosh@eoni.com> wrote:
> Without making any judgements about recent requirements or procedures, or
>  the travails of keeping a Vanagon on the road in California, I would like to
>  make small observations and hopefully add a small perspective to the
>  discussion. I haven't been a CA resident for 32 years.
>
>  In 1956-7, I was a middle school student smack in the Los Angeles Basin. At
>  that time, the air was unfit to breathe. I had an afternoon bicycle paper
>  route, and because of it a chronic sore throat and cough. (actually, all of
>  the kids had the same cough) The air looked like a modern-day picture of
>  Shanghai. I am fortunate to have not developed a permanent asthma condition.
>
>  Today I am sure the Basin air quality is far from perfect, but it is
>  definitely better than in 1957, AND there are a bazillion more cars and
>  trucks on the streets and freeways. Perhaps 50-100 times more. New emissions
>  requirements have come as continual efforts to keep up with the sheer volume
>  of vehicles and their tailpipes (and filler pipes).
>
>  And, remember in the late '60s and in the '70s when the culture was to
>  automatically disable emission control equipment? Not so easy today, but it
>  did not go unnoticed by the lawmakers.
>
>  So, IMHO, California has done the whole country a real service in air
>  quality by being the leaders of vehicle emission ACTION during the last 3 or
>  4 decades. The Feds would never have acheived comparable results. It is a
>  tribute to California's results that many other states have adopted their
>  standards. It is unfortunate that they can't tailor the requirements to
>  every specific location and situation, I suspect that is more a matter of
>  administrative costs than flexibility.
>
>  Vern McIntosh
>  Bend, Oregon
>