Hacker News Reader

Comment by chasd00 | Hacker News Reader

ftfa "provide the state and local agencies most familiar with local issues the discretion to determine whether, when, and for how long to provide opportunities for public participation."

so give local government the controls, that doesn't seem so bad. As for the next line in the article saying people are losing faith in their local government i don't buy that a bit. Local government and elections are where your vote and voice are loudest. The most faith lost seems to be at the federal level.

Triggering articles like this are usually not so alarming if you take the time to read them and fish out the details. They're made for social media distribution and engagement from the headline alone.

View on HN

Here's the thing... pollution is a global issue. We share the same atmosphere, we share the same grid, we share the same resources to generate energy.

So no this isn't an issue for local governments who can be easily bribed, it's absolutely something the federal gov should be all over. This isn't some "gotcha" you're offering, it's damning.

About the only type of pollution which is actually global is CO2, which is exactly the thing this kind of review has nothing to do with. If you want people to emit less CO2 then you price carbon and as a result everyone has that amount of incentive to prefer alternate means of generating electricity.

From the article:

> The federal Environmental Protection Agency plans to scrap a federal requirement that states tell the public — and allow public comment — before approving air-pollution permits for industrial facilities. That includes the data centers rising across the country, as well as the power plants built to feed their enormous appetite for electricity.

Second or third paragraph no less.

You're quoting a paragraph talking about EPA air pollution permits, which are about things like NOx and particulates rather than CO2.

Moreover, those types of permits aren't a sensible way to deal with CO2 even if they were actually used for that, because you can't scrub CO2 using filters or more complete combustion methods or the like. There is nothing about the facility to inspect or approve, it's solely a matter of how much carbon is in the fuel that it burns. Which is why the only sensible way to handle it is to put a carbon price on the fuel, which has nothing to do with any particular facility.

water pollution can be a global issue too.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com