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Time For Honesty About The VET

By George C. Baumler

  It's time for a little honesty concerning the VET program.  Number one the VET doesn't reduce pollution any more than a bathroom scale causes weight-loss or mirrors cause the aesthetically challenged to become appealing.  Like a thermometer used for measuring temperature, the VET only measures output emissions; it in no way curtails them to the extent that proponents claim.  It would be the same as saying a thermometer cures fevers --  " folks, it just ain’t so." 

  The so-called savings attributed to the VET are entirely the result of a hopelessly flawed computer model.  Even the National Academy of Sciences, in spite of its pro VET bias, openly admits that programs like the VET are responsible for only zero to fifty percent of the pollution reduction amount claimed.  The actual figure is in reality closer to zero than fifty percent.  The big money is in favor of the VET, with its paid Lobbyists and monopoly fatcats looking to protect their cash cow, leaving the citizens with more industrial pollution in the bargain. 

  The double talk about pollution credits is just that.  The SIP (State Implementation Plan) credits are not tradable; it is true.  It is also true that the SIP credits are used to increase the perceived carrying capacity of the air of Jefferson County, and that allows the sale of title V permits to local industry.  Any new model that is likely to be adopted as a result of the NAS report will cause the APCD (Air Pollution Control District) to admit the VET is useless, or, more likely, to make the VET more onerous than ever in an attempt to fudge the numbers and make it appear as though the program has the same level of benefit as previously claimed.  

  The APCD is so much in the pockets of Gordon Darby Inc. that anything other than force marching motorists to the VET is unthinkable.  There seems to be a dearth of ideas at the APCD, that is any that do not require coercion and a tidy sum for a monopoly contractor.  It is known that older cars, 15 years and over, are the most likely to pollute, yet there are no incentive programs to aid in retiring these relics, which would actually have some real air quality benefits.   Instead, the APCD is pushing for a light rail project, which is so outrageously expensive that it would be cheaper to buy every new rider a new car!

(See also articles about VET scam in New Jersey, EPA models,  air pollution and health.)

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