...Many Americans may not know it yet, but the federal government has already effectively banned the type of light bulb most of us use today.In 2007, President Bush signed the Energy Independence and Security Act, mandating that household light bulbs use incrementally less electricity starting in 2012 and culminating in 2020, when they must use less than 70 percent of the electricity conventional incandescent bulbs use today.
Compact fluorescent bulbs already meet this standard. The congressional authors of the law understood they were, in essence, phasing out incandescent bulbs.
They did this, they said, to help save the planet from overheating. But the light-bulb left did not weigh -- or care about -- the unintended consequences of their crusade. One such consequence could be an environment disaster in your family room.
You see, fluorescent bulbs contain mercury -- a bad, bad pollutant and health hazard that the Environmental Protection Agency has been sounding alarms about for years.
This put the EPA in a tough spot. On the one hand, it needed to applaud the politically correct use of fluorescent bulbs to save the planet. On the other hand, it needed to warn people that if they break a fluorescent bulb in their home it could poison the dog, the kid and the wall-to-wall rug. So, the EPA published blatantly self-contradictory instructions about what to do if mercury spills at your house.
... [descriptions of all the insane, and I mean insane, clean-up instructions]
Apparently, some light bulbs escaped the standards in the 2007 law. So, last week, Mr. Obama's Energy Department closed the loophole by issuing new efficiency regulations targeted at these bulbs that will take effect in 2012.
In a June 29 speech, Mr. Obama described the move as part of an energy-efficiency initiative that "will create jobs in the short run and save money and reduce dangerous emissions in the long run."
After reading Mr. Obama's speech, I drove over to the local big-box hardware store and studied the products in the light-bulb aisle. The store stocked exactly one brand of compact fluorescent bulb for conventional light fixtures. The 75-watt version cost $3.47 per bulb -- compared to .22 cents for a 75-watt incandescent bulb.
On the back of the fluorescent-bulb package -- just below a warning about the mercury content -- the following words were inscribed: "Made in China."
Terence P. Jeffrey is the editor in chief of CNSnews.com.
As usual, I must counteract the madness with a photo of Michele Bachmann, the author of the Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act:
Light-bulb liars - Washington Times
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