Soot in Kent, Ottawa is too big

Thats fine. We can just send the rest of our industry to China and Mexico. They will be glad to get it!

Govt. should not run anything. Keep chasing what little industry is left here. They probably complain about corn dust in the plains.

It's ironic, isn't it, that the same industry and economy that has so lengthened our life expectancy and quality of life is now demonized for potentially shortening it...

...There's no soot in Somalia.

damn you steel plants in holland, damn you all to..... oh wait, there is no heavy industry to speak of in ottawa co.
Must be that green fog rolling in off lake michigan from the general direction of gary in.

So its ok to polute? We don't want to make industry accountable, or maybe they will go away? Who pays when cancer rates skyrocket? Or doesn't that matter?

There is a trade off to having jobs and industry... and unfortunately it's pollution. So I guess if we want pristine air to breath we can all sit at homes on our butts and breath the air, and take the rest of our lives off, which will be shortend since we will all freaking starve to death.

Hmmm wrote:

So its ok to polute? We don't want to make industry accountable, or maybe they will go away? Who pays when cancer rates skyrocket? Or doesn't that matter?

Funny, I don't remember anyone saying it was ok to polute, or any of the other things you stated.

Why doesn't this article list where the polution problems are?

Anyone that's lived in Holland with a light colored car and no garage, knows the damage that Louis Padnos does every day. Orange rust looking stuff that attaches to everything and ruins it. And only if you can afford to have your car buffed often, can you keep ahead of it.

More info wrote:

Why doesn't this article list where the polution problems are?

Hmmmm, I wonder.

dan r wrote:

damn you steel plants in holland, damn you all to..... oh wait, there is no heavy industry to speak of in ottawa co.
Must be that green fog rolling in off lake michigan from the general direction of gary in.

It has been proven time and again that most of the problem does come from the Gary/Chicago area. After all, there isn't much manufacturing left in the area.. How much can a medical building put out anyway?

One more thing to keep business out of Michigan. Nice.

Smog and soot?

From what? Most of our heavy industries are closed and shuttered long ago. Does our Government have any common sense? What doesn't fall in the lake from Gary Indiana and Chicago drifts directly into West Michigan.

I guess the EPA won't be happy until we just as economically ruined as Eastern Michigan. If we won't do it to ourselves like they do, they will push us into the stone age.

I really don't care. How do they know where this soot comes from .Maybe volcanoes or forest fires in Canada, maybe its just there and there ain't a dang thing we can do about. Of course the EPA or the DEQ will have to fine somebody ,of course in the end we all pay.

Lake Effect wrote:

There is a trade off to having jobs and industry... and unfortunately it's pollution. So I guess if we want pristine air to breath we can all sit at homes on our butts and breath the air, and take the rest of our lives off, which will be shortend since we will all freaking starve to death.

Even if we close everything, our air still won't meet the standards because the vast majority of the pollution in it is not from here. All we need is for Washington bureaucrats to look around and use a little common sense. If people don't like the industries that still hang on here, like Padnos, Steelcase etc I would suggest that they leave the area so that we will have less unemployment while the Government closes in and forces nonsesnse regulations on us.

Well we could have Atomic Energy but noooooooooooooooooooooo!

Just wait. Mandatory emissions testing for cars is next. Engler saved us from that mess before at the eleventh hour. I doubt that neither Granholm, nor Obama will be willing to help us the next time around.

smilingsam wrote:

Well we could have Atomic Energy but noooooooooooooooooooooo!

Well if they closed the two coal fired power plants (Holland and Grand Haven) and replaced them with a Nuclear Plant that would get rid of the two largest polluters in the area. Unfortunately our air would still not be up to the arbitrary Washington standards until industry is driven out of Northern Indiana and the Chicago area. Since the constitutents and dependents of those with the real power in Washington won't put them out of work, we will have to "do our part" to make the air cleaner.

What we need is a giant blender to make sure that all of our soot particles are smaller than 2.5 micrometers.

The only soot particles I've ever heard of are the stuffed suit particles that blow around all that hot air.

Good Day,

This really grinds me the wrong way. Don't get me wrong, I think we do need to be caretakers of the environment. But, why should we in West Michigan be punished for the actions of others? That is what I just don't get. For years we have been suffering under the tyrany of the EPA who chooses to punish us instead of taking action against those who are causing our grief!

Steelie