equipment emissions (EPA) ended

[nisaacs]

We're perpetually stuck with california standards

Maybe not, the Feds are starting to pull their teeth.

As of 02-04-2026

Regulatory outlook for Trump vs. California this year

The California Air Resources Board emissions authority​

Lastly, the Trump administration—with help from Congress—revoked California’s emissions standards authority. Trump in June signed three resolutions to terminate the state’s waivers to enforce Advanced Clean Trucks, Advanced Clean Cars II, and Heavy-Duty NOx.

Legislators had cut short the state’s significant influence over commercial vehicle markets. However, the resolutions used a questionable legal basis to repeal the waivers. A coalition of 10 attorneys general filed a lawsuit against the resolutions, California v. United States, which argues against that basis. The legal battle will likely move slowly, leaving state emissions autonomy uncertain this year.

“It’s going to be drawn out, I think, at the district court level. Then, whatever happens, I would suspect either side is going to appeal to the Ninth Circuit,” Sharma said. “I don’t think we’re going to get a final resolution on that issue anytime this year. … But it is obviously an important case because, if a court were to find and uphold that the use of the Congressional Review Act waiver process was improper, that obviously brings a lot of California’s authority and ability to regulate emissions—and other states to adopt California’s emissions—back into play.”

EPA also recently criticized California's smog check program, though enforcement of the program seems to remain in effect for now.

 

[Runner]

I liked my Hondas far better than my VW Rabbits.

My pre-CVCC 1973 Civic sure ran good. I would buy another brand new one right now today exactly like it if I could.

 

[WinterDeere]

Posted in another thread BMW just recalled 90000 in US because the starters are wearing out and causing some fires.

I first encountered auto-stop/start on a Mercedes I rented in the UK, ca.2012. I was told it was then standard on all German cars, possibly even all Euro cars, I can't remember now.

The point being, that was 14 years ago. You'd think that after a decade and a half, they'd have a pretty good handle on increased starter wear, etc. It's almost unforgiveable that this would cause a recall, so many years into this being SOP for that manufacturer.

It resets to On after every restart.

Our little Mini is a BMW product, and hence subject to all of the controls they standardize across their product lines. In this vehicle, they stuck a momentary toggle switch right next to the start switch, such that you can (and always do) simply disable the system as soon as you start the vehicle. It's literally a 2-finger roll, middle finger to start, followed 0.2 seconds later by index finger on auto-stop disable switch. Not a big deal, at all.

The aforementioned Mercedes had an interesting system. When enabled, you still had to push the brake pedal all the way to the floor after stopping the vehicle, to shut off the engine. If you pressed the pedal just hard enough to stop the car, it did not shut off the engine, it was only a definite and deliberate pressing to the floor that would shut off the engine. The car also had to be stopped (obviously), and the system armed. Back then, their system did not re-arm itself on every restart.

 

[Mtsoxfan]

On a Ford forum I'm on, a retired engineer with R&D stated that the starters are designed for start/stop. They have a general lifespan that some cars will reach earlier due to the amount of stop/starts they have, while others may never reach that threshold, due to rarely using it. think highway driving vs city driving.
I live in the middle of nowhere, mountains, low population. The only smog we get is smoke from West Coast/ Canadian wildfires. I couldn't imagine living in an area that experiences vehicle smog.

 

[Hay Dude]

On a Ford forum I'm on, a retired engineer with R&D stated that the starters are designed for start/stop. They have a general lifespan that some cars will reach earlier due to the amount of stop/starts they have, while others may never reach that threshold, due to rarely using it. think highway driving vs city driving.
I live in the middle of nowhere, mountains, low population. The only smog we get is smoke from West Coast/ Canadian wildfires. I couldn't imagine living in an area that experiences vehicle smog.

When you get smog from a wildfire, what does the sky look like? Does it resemble a cloudy day like overcast cloudy? Or is it darker?

 

[Mtsoxfan]

When you get smog from a wildfire, what does the sky look like? Does it resemble a cloudy day like overcast cloudy? Or is it darker?

Rarely does it smell like fire, unless it's really bad. That happens 1 or 2 per year. I think it was from Canadian fires. The sky resembles an overcast day, and if I'm "lucky" enough to have a full moon, it has orange hues. Sunsets the same. That's the part that looks cool, as I spend much time outside, usually sitting listening to music and enjoying sunsets.

 

[Hay Dude]

Rarely does it smell like fire, unless it's really bad. That happens 1 or 2 per year. I think it was from Canadian fires. The sky resembles an overcast day, and if I'm "lucky" enough to have a full moon, it has orange hues. Sunsets the same. That's the part that looks cool, as I spend much time outside, usually sitting listening to music and enjoying sunsets.

We experienced the same here in the east. We had a few weeks of overcast skies recently from Canadian wildfires.
What would the impact of widespread cloudy days, covering say a dozen states in the US, do to an electric utility grid that relied mostly on solar power?

 

[deserteagle71]

When you get smog from a wildfire, what does the sky look like? Does it resemble a cloudy day like overcast cloudy? Or is it darker?

Here's what it looks like. This is from one of the big California wildfires, over 300 miles west of my place. Because of the earth's rotation weather generally flows west to east so every time California burns, Nevada gets covered in smoke. It can last for days - yes, you can smell smoke and taste smoke. People who have breathing problems to begin with REALLY suffer.

Same view up my driveway on a clear day:

That smoke does provide for some awesome sunsets though:

And its the only time you can actually look directly at the sun because all that smoke acts as a great filter to protect your eyes:

 

[WinterDeere]

We had that here one week, 2 or 3 summers ago. It's the only time in 50+ years of living in this region of southeastern PA, that I can ever recall being affected by wildfires. In our case, they were way up in Canada, untold hundreds (thousands?) of miles from our location.

I remember being out on my tractor on a clear day, and then suddenly smelling something burning. Then I noticed some bits of ash started raining down on the hood of my tractor. It was so strong and so close, I was convinced a neighbor's house must be on fire. Not hearing any sirens, I figured I'd better go scouting around the neighborhood, to make sure my neighbors and their homes were okay.

Of course I couldn't find the source of the smoke, which was really frustrating, until my wife told me she found something on the news about wildfires in Canada.

When sunset came, and I had to turn on the tractor's HID lights to finish my work, I saw that the air was absolutely full of ash that I couldn't see in daylight. It was so thick in the air, that the lights couldn't even penetrate more than maybe 150 - 200 feet ahead, whereas they normally have a range probably over 1000 feet. I felt it in my lungs when I went to bed that night, having been outside in all that ash maybe 6 or 10 hours.

The next day, our news was full of respiratory health advisories. Yeah... thanks guys, it's always great to get the warnings they day after an event!

 

[Too many Kubotas]

When in SoCal the fires were smaller. But there were lots them, and many were quite close.

A fairly normal sunset, enhanced by smoke from fires in the Santa Barbara area.

On days without Santa Ana winds the smoke tended to go more or less straight up.

I have lots and lots of fire photos, but for some reason can't find the good ones now. Here's just a small glow, enough to not sleep well knowing there's a fire nearby (about a mile away), and smelling the smoke.

 

[Mtsoxfan]

We experienced the same here in the east. We had a few weeks of overcast skies recently from Canadian wildfires.
What would the impact of widespread cloudy days, covering say a dozen states in the US, do to an electric utility grid that relied mostly on solar power?

Which is why I support a diversified power system. No one perfect solution.

 

[alexpops]

2 - 3 years ago (maybe 4?) when the CA wildfires were really bad, there were a couple days in the SF Bay Area that it never brightened above early dawn levels. Dark sky & dim orange light at noon. Seemed like something out of a vampire world movie.

 

[ultrarunner]

2 - 3 years ago (maybe 4?) when the CA wildfires were really bad, there were a couple days in the SF Bay Area that it never brightened above early dawn levels. Dark sky & dim orange light at noon. Seemed like something out of a vampire world movie.

The days the streetlight never turned off…

 

[DarkBlack]

What would the impact of widespread cloudy days, covering say a dozen states in the US, do to an electric utility grid that relied mostly on solar power?

What’s the impact of solar geo-engineering on solar panel output?
Convince the plebes to install PV panels, then, dim the sunlight

About Geoengineering | US EPA

Geoengineering refers to activities intended to cool the Earth or remove greenhouse gases from the air and has health and environmental impacts. This page summarizes geoengineering and potential impacts.

www.epa.gov

 

[DarkBlack]

2 - 3 years ago (maybe 4?) when the CA wildfires were really bad, there were a couple days in the SF Bay Area that it never brightened above early dawn levels. Dark sky & dim orange light at noon. Seemed like something out of a vampire world movie.

You’d think California would at least be installing biomass electric plants, and set up a program to harvest the best material to reduce, and make good use of, dry flammable biomass energy, reducing the risk of wasting it in polluting wildfires, but no.
The state of a million regulations and a million lawyers, just keep adding regulations, taxes, and wait for the next uncontrolled wildfire. Like the movie groundhog day..without the happy ending.

 

[Mtsoxfan]

You’d think California would at least be installing biomass electric plants, and set up a program to harvest the best material to reduce, and make good use of, dry flammable biomass energy, reducing the risk of wasting it in polluting wildfires, but no.
The state of a million regulations and a million lawyers, just keep adding regulations, taxes, and wait for the next uncontrolled wildfire. Like the movie groundhog day..without the happy ending.

If it's going to burn eventually, why not harvest and create energy? Although it would take some time to get to a point of greatly reducing of fuel for wildfires, doing nothing brings you further away. It seems CA spends money on reactive problems solving, instead of proactive, but I'm not up on CA policy. Maybe someone from CA can chime in on that thought.

 

[etpm]

Here's what it looks like. This is from one of the big California wildfires, over 300 miles west of my place. Because of the earth's rotation weather generally flows west to east so every time California burns, Nevada gets covered in smoke. It can last for days - yes, you can smell smoke and taste smoke. People who have breathing problems to begin with REALLY suffer.

View attachment 5017876

Same view up my driveway on a clear day:

View attachment 5017877

That smoke does provide for some awesome sunsets though:
View attachment 5017878

And its the only time you can actually look directly at the sun because all that smoke acts as a great filter to protect your eyes:
View attachment 5017881

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, born in Palo Alto in 1956. Up until I left when I was 22 the view of the surrounding hills was much like what your pictures show of your place. People would remark about how you could see the hills on the rare days when you could. The pollution is now much less than it was. I fail to understand why anybody would want to go back to the days of no pollution controls.
Eric

 

[DarkBlack]

If it's going to burn eventually, why not harvest and create energy? Although it would take some time to get to a point of greatly reducing of fuel for wildfires, doing nothing brings you further away. It seems CA spends money on reactive problems solving, instead of proactive, but I'm not up on CA policy. Maybe someone from CA can chime in on that thought.

Yeah. Like the California gold rush, you could almost say, California is sitting on a goldmine of potential biomass energy. They simply let it dry and start forest fires and it’s all wasted, destructive, and polluting.
Modern biomass plants monitor O2, and CO emissions to precisely regulate air for the absolute minimal CO, and minimize wasted energy in excess O2. Dry grass, bushes, trees, all can produce electricity, while putting out magnitudes less pollution than an open forest fire.
Much less pollution + electricity…
Naa

 

[Too many Kubotas]

The pollution is now much less than it was. I fail to understand why anybody would want to go back to the days of no pollution controls.
Eric

I think that many, myself included, would like to see things rolled back to logical levels of control.

There's no reason to keep going way past the point of diminishing returns, other than to be able to brag about having done it.

 

[DarkBlack]

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, born in Palo Alto in 1956. Up until I left when I was 22 the view of the surrounding hills was much like what your pictures show of your place. People would remark about how you could see the hills on the rare days when you could. The pollution is now much less than it was. I fail to understand why anybody would want to go back to the days of no pollution controls.
Eric

They didn’t change anything to real, actual, pollution. They got rid of the questionable science on C02.

CO2 that you and every animal exhale every breath, that makes all plants on our planet grow.
It’s colorless, and integral to life on our planet