Believing Anything

THE AMERICAN FOSSIL FUEL industry receives all kindsa tax breaks and other help from we the American people for the purpose of building its infrastructure. Thousands of miles of pipeline, over time, develop numerous leaks, which result in millions of gallons of fuel being leaked into the environment, polluting, and raising the cost of fuel as the expense is passed on to you know who. Evidently enough natural gas is lost each year to power seven million homes, according to the industry. Under Obama, the Environmental Protection Agency, doing the job for which it is intended, issued a ruling, an order if you will, or call it a regulation that all leaks must be repaired by the various corporations at their own expense. Sounds reasonable enough, don't you think? Repairs are necessary, and seem to be slow getting done, and whose responsibility is it, really? The owners, perhaps? Guess who the most outspoken opponents of this regulation are? Yes, the usual suspects. First, the owners. The fossil fuel companies themselves, Trump, the republicans in congress, the incoming EPA director, and conservative America in general, including, presumably, the evangelical wing of the right wing. This regulation is a prime example of the odious, burdensome, government overreach which hinders business and slows the economy, according to the conservative republican Trumpified segment of America. Corporations, required to repair their own equipment to avoid polluting. How horrible! For the corporations, it is far less expensive to charge the American consumers for the cost of the lost fuel, rather than to invest in repairing infrastructure, so quite naturally they are vehemently opposed to the regulation. Every fossil fuel company insists that it cares deeply about the problem, and plans to take action to solve it, and does not require any government interference to do so. And if you believe that, you'll believe anything. And just as a warning; beginning anytime now, we can expect to see many regulations attacked by the new federal government, and the tragedy is that nearly all of these regulations are for our own good, and should be kept in place.