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Comment by knodi123 | Hacker News Reader

Meanwhile,

> EPA moves away from Permian Basin air pollution crackdown

> The oil industry pushed hard against the proposal to issue an ozone nonattainment designation, which would have required that companies reduce oilfield emissions.

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/01/13/texas-permian-basin-...

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LOL. I forgot all about that ozone hole and the mass frog-death (from fungal disease) that they tried blaming on the o-hole. I think before that their was the acid-rain and the "advancing sahara desert". At one point DDT was going to give the entire planet instant cancer... Will be interesting to see what other alarmist nonsense they can come up with next.

FYI, the ozone emissions we're talking about are separate from the Ozone Layer, which is where the "holes" are. Ozone in the upper atmosphere is good, because it blocks UV light. Ozone in the lower atmosphere (i.e. the air we all breathe) is bad, because it's harmful to humans and animals, especially to respiration. Ozone has a ton of precursor chemicals (collectively called Volatile Organic Compounds) which are roughly any organic carbon compound more complicated than ethane (so most things with 3+ carbon atoms), which the oil & gas industry in particular struggles to avoid emitting.

>Alarmist nonsense

The point of an alarm is to warn you of danger so you can fix things or get to safety. Scientists raised alarms about a hole in the ozone layer because there was (and still is) one. Because of that alarm, the world rallied around a treaty that phased out ozone-depleting chemicals. The problem is getting better because of that treaty.

Hooray for alarms.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Protocol

You don’t think acid rain is real? It will actually dissolve gravestones and buildings. Major cities in the US have dealt with it since like the 20s. it’s (one reason) why your car has a catalytic converter.

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