No, the EPA isn't out to get your grill
The Hearld Times
It seemed to take Michigan politicians a really long time to recognize the hazards posed by the proposed low-level nuclear waste dump near the shores of Lake Huron at Kincardine, Ontario. Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley, for instance, was scheduling hearings and writing letters before the typical reaction from government leaders on this side of Lake Huron had even reached the "Huh?" stage.
Eventually, though, our political leaders recognized that opposition to the waste storage site had a following. We use the word "leaders" facetiously. Clearly, they were following the winds of public opinion.
They held hearings and passed resolutions, which certainly was better than never getting on board with those who feared the Kincardine site, like every nuclear waste storage site so far, would eventually leak.
But politics has its realities. Politicians do what's popular. There's a name for that: Demagoguery. It means pandering to the popular will regardless whether it makes sense or even serves the public good.
The latest blatant pandering from Lansing happened Thursday. The state Senate adopted a resolution sponsored by Tom Casperson and Phil Pavlov to oppose a study funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that they say could lead to federal regulation of backyard barbecues. The resolution now goes to the House.
If it weren't such obviously manipulative tub-thumping it would be funny. After all, what could possible be more un-American than regulating our backyard grills! Hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet! What will they take from us next? Vote for me, I saved your barbecued chicken from the long arm of the federal government!
Excuse our exclamation marks.
Like the too-late opposition to the nuclear waste storage site, the study in question has already been completed. It was a student project at the University of California-Riverside to find a way to make backyard propane grills behave better and produce less sooty air pollution. It turns out that the flareups that scorch your chicken are also the worst source of sooty, black smoke, the worst emissions from backyard grills.
The student researchers invented a better drip tray to minimize flareups. It's hardly government over-regulation.
