An Attempt to Deregulate Greenhouse Gasses

H.R. 637:  Stopping EPA Overreach Act of 2017

An Attempt to Deregulate Greenhouse Gasses

This bill is trying to “stop the EPA from overreaching its congressional mandate”.  The EPA accepted  that greenhouse gasses are pollutants, and should therefore be regulated.  House bill 637 states that the EPA is wrong.  Greenhouse gasses are not pollutants.  Greenhouse gasses should not be regulated. 

“The term air pollutant does not include carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, or sulfur hexafluoride,” ie: the greenhouse gasses.

Here’s a basic elementary level explanation of greenhouse effects.  Greenhouse gasses act kind of like a window.  You’re sitting in your car in the summer.  The sun beats down, heating the inside of your car.  But the heat can’t escape.  So you get really hot.

With the greenhouse gasses, visible and ultraviolet light pass through the gasses without problem.  The energy hits Earth, and warms it up.  The surface re-emits the energy as infrared.  The longer wavelength infrared can’t pass through the greenhouse gasses.  So the heat bounces off, returns to Earth’s surface and heats it some more.

Energy comes in.  Some of it leaves.  Some stays.   If too much leaves, Earth cools down.  If too much stays, Earth warms up.

This is a VERY GOOD THING at the right levels.  Without greenhouse gasses, we humans wouldn’t exist because Earth would be very, VERY COLD. 

Like Goldilocks, we were at the “just right” stage.  But now we’re not.  Earth is getting warmer.

When the greenhouse gas levels are too high, the energy is trapped and Earth gets too hot.  Our sister planet, Venus, is an uninhabitable wasteland.  Its atmosphere is made up of lots of greenhouse gasses.  The Sun’s energy goes in.  It converts to infrared.  It can’t escape so bounces around between clouds and surface boiling everything. 

The Earth is warming.  Greenhouse gasses do cause warming.  Human activities are releasing greenhouse gasses.  These are facts.  There is no controversy here.  The only controversy is how much of the warming is caused by human activities.  And what can we do about it. 

It’s much easier to say, “not our fault.  Nothing we can do” than it is to spend the money to change the way we do business. 

H.R. 637 is an attempt to excuse industry.  If we’re not releasing enough gas to be the real problem – global climate change is a natural process - then greenhouse gasses are not a pollutant.  And our businesses shouldn’t have to pay money to deal with it.

Unfortunately, the release of greenhouse gasses through industry and lifestyles choices is very real.  The current build-up of greenhouse gasses is human caused.  The speed of climate change is a direct result of our actions. 

Greenhouse gasses are a pollutant.  They must be regulated before we turn Earth into Venus.  Oppose HR 637.  Protect our food supply and our very lives by regulating greenhouse gasses.

Colorado Senators:

Michael Bennett – Dem – 202-224-5852

Cory Gardner  -  Rep  -  202-224-5941

Capitol Switchboard – 303-224-3121.  “Representative( Lamborn from Colorado), please”