At one time, the Los Angeles,
California, area was plagued with smog (the
word was formed by combining smoke and fog). It made visibility very poor at
times. Worse, it caused breathing and respiratory problems for people who lived
there and breathed the smoggy air.
Once science figured out that smog was caused by the
interaction of various chemicals in automobile exhaust with sunlight, the
remedy was to impose governmental regulations on the types and amounts of
substances that cars would be allowed to pour into the air. The result? Los
Angeles' air has been cleaned up in a dramatic way.
We have national regulations on so-called tailpipe emissions
from cars, and California has its
own, stricter emission laws. But now Donald Trump wants to take away California's
right to impose tighter restrictions on tailpipe emissions than the national standards. California needs these
tighter controls because the unique topography (and plentiful sunshine) of the Los
Angeles area was causing smog to not only form there
but settle and remain.
It seems that any liberal, progressive policy--all right,
regulation--that benefits 99% of the populace at the expense of the remaining
1% (which is going to be big business and/or the very wealthy individuals)
simply rankles with Trump, and he can't wait for his chance to get rid of it by
executive order.
