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CFL light bulb mandate is dim-witted energy plan |
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Tuesday, 22 July 2008 |
Letter from Duane Stahl
Valley City, N.D.
Congress has decreed that incandescent light bulbs be outlawed by 2014, and we'll switch to compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs). Environmentally friendly? Well, each one contains mercury, all are made only in China, and used ones must be taken to local recycling centers or carefully sealed in several layers of plastic bags. (Won't trash collectors have to wear spaceman-type outfits in case a CFL is in a garbage can?)
Holding one, Texas Congressman Ted Poe told colleagues in June that if he dropped and broke it, EPA required emptying the building of all personnel! He wondered, "Have we gone a bit too far with this nonsense?"
Poe noted the packaging of these rather expensive bulbs warned they "...may cause interference to radios, televisions, wireless telephones and remote controls." (Better turn out the lights while watching the latest reality show.) He said that besides even more of our wealth going to China, we shouldn't forget “...over the past year we've seen Chinese pet food kill our dogs and cats; Chinese lead paint is poisoning our children; and now Chinese light bulbs containing mercury can be harmful to our health.”
Poe added that after carefully searching the Constitution, he found no power given to Congress to decide the kind of light bulb Americans must use and scolded his colleagues for having no real energy bill “except to turn on these light bulbs.”
What happened to developing our abundant natural resources like coal, natural gas and crude oil?
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