The genesis of Environmental Politics begins with a propaganda campaign causing Fads, Bandwagons and Scams like “Climate Change” to create Irrelevant Movements and Goals.
The latest wave of Environmental Politics began in the 1960s. It started on the “Left Coast” with “save the whales”. Now we are killing the Whales by installing Ocean-based Wind Power Towers. It continued with “save the Seals”, but that didn’t last long. The next Environmental problem was “Smog”. It was smoke and fog and resulted in a non-violent wide-spread protest movement in the 1960s and 1970s.
The first recorded episodes of smog in Los Angeles were in the summer of 1943. On July 8, 1943, residents woke up to a thick smog that caused physical distress and blocked visibility. The smog was so thick that drivers were blinded and car crashes occurred. People suffered from burning eyes and lungs, and nausea. Some thought it was chemical warfare by a foreign country. The smog was caused by a combination of factors, including the influx of cars and industry, and the city's geography, which traps fumes.
In the 1960s I worked out of my office in downtown St. Louis. We had chemical plants on the Mississippi and the smell filled the downtown. The Queeny Plant operated on the west bank of the Mississippi River in St. Louis, Missouri. The smells from the plant were outside and weren’t detected inside buildings. Established in 1901 as the Monsanto Chemical Works, the facility manufactured over 200 products from more than 800 raw materials before finally ceasing operations in 2006. Many US chemical plants offshored to China in the 2000s.
Several technologies exist to make chemical plants less polluting, including: carbon capture and storage (CCUS), process optimization for energy efficiency, transitioning to renewable energy sources, advanced catalytic processes, and utilizing alternative, sustainable feedstocks like biomass to produce chemicals with a reduced carbon footprint; these technologies can significantly decrease emissions from chemical production processes.
According to a report by the American Chemistry Council, the average cost of building a new chemical plant in the United States is approximately $1.2 billion. However, this figure can vary widely depending on the specific plant being constructed. It is doubtful that chemical plants will return to the US unless costs can be lowered.
The US needs to reshore those industries that produce critical products like antibiotics and supply chains that support the US military. Consumer rejection of the EV mandate should reduce our needs for some minerals and chips.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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