If confirmed, the EPA report underscores the fact that a cleaner environment isn't necessarily one with fewer greenhouse gases. The catalytic converter reduces engine efficiency and creates less fuel efficiency than we could achieve without it, but we accept burning more gasoline to get a cleaner exhaust. Under current conditions, demands by Green political activists for the development and use of all-electric cars amounts to arguing both ends against the middle. The only emission-free power plants capable of meeting even current needs are nuclear and hydroelectric, both of which are being blocked by Green activists. Moreover, some Green groups complain that wind turbines kill birds and that both wind turbines and solar panels are blights upon the landscape.
Government has to weigh the alternatives.
The public expects the best possible air quality at the lowest possible cost. Emotional demands from those who always seem unhappy with the choices is not a good basis for policy. Quite apart from the ongoing debate over a putative global warming, nuclear and hydroelectric power and hybrid cars are just a few of the many ideas that make good sense and constitute progress. The New York Times reporter's statement that nitrous oxides now comprise 7.2 percent of the gases that cause global warming appears to be wrong. If N2O is 7.2 percent of the greenhouse gases, and it's 300 times more potent than CO2, that would make it the primary greenhouse gas.