As crazy, insane liberal California goes so does the rest of the country.
https://www.hemmings.com/stories/chrome-plating-ban/

 

Coming after ya chrome.......next will be ya brass.

 

abe will be happy, no more chrome bumpers..

 

Ha!.......

 

Ah, when the chrome was straight, and the women were thick..

 

All the CA guys have to do is send all their chrome south where there are few if any environmental regulations. Heck, it's like the materials for electric vehicle batteries, have the dirty work done somewhere else.

 

That ship has done sailed...

https://www.nraila.org/articles/20221220/washington-gov-inslee-calls-for-gun-ban-permit-mandate

https://wacivilrights.org/2023/01/10/gun-control-in-washington-2023/

 

I don't get mad at over-regulated EPA laws that restrict painting, Chroming, manufacturing.

Just look at Flint Michigan, there's a reason it's such a chemical mess: Dupont and many others ruined that city and left it to suffer.

So we'll let the Mexicans and the Chinese ruin their own backyards.


Ask me to live in Flint and I'll tell you to drink their water. This ain't about "liberal" or "conservative"; or "left" or "right"; "trump" or "biden".

It's about watching your kids get poisoned from drinking a cup of water from the faucet, taking a shower, or get poisoned by playing in the soil.
This country built itself into an amazing industrial super power, and it came at a heck of a price.

 

We are the most regulated and restricted country when comes to industry. No other country in the world self regulates like we do. The carelessness of the past happened and in most cases, but not all, those careless acts have been taken care as best as possible. Allowing other countries to take over the dirty work sn't good for the planet as a whole. I'd much rather have the "dirty" type of work done in this country where the process is well regulated and self maintained than in some other part of the world where they dump their waste into the environment with care. I do care what they do in other countries because eventually we'll feel the effects if the carelessness.

 

Having spent a fair amount of time tromping through manufacturing operations in parts of Western Europe and China during my corporate weenie days, a couple of thoughts:

The US is in no way the most regulated country. Most of Western Europe, especially Denmark and the Netherlands, are far more active in the environmental space. Typically, the US is at best a laggard in environmental infrastructure and utility technology.

As to trying to keep 'dirty' processes in the US, that ship sailed long ago. The regulatory activity in the US, especially with water borne releases or resulting toxic byproducts, made some industrial activities uncompetitive decades ago. The work simply moved to lower cost countries. Mexico, and to a larger extent China, were more than willing to ignore consequences for the sake of current business opportunities. The bar tab for such decisions continue to mount for those countries.

The current push for electric vehicles is expanding the scale of environmental impact as China, Australia, and Canada mine rare earth minerals. Africa will not be spared as most of the known sources of cobalt (which is not a rare earth but is essential for many lithium ion batteries} are in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A country, in practice, that is neither democratic nor hesitant to allow brutal exploitation of its citizens.

So, California moving to legislate regarding a certain heavy metal that is used mainly to make shiny stuff? Meh.

 

I'm not a chrome fan but this discussion reminds me of a series of youtube videos I've been watching. Great Moments in Unintended Consequences
It's all about instances where people came up with a plan to fix a problem and it backfired. There are tons of these around the world.
One example from I think India but there are many similar examples elsewhere. They had a cobra problem, so the government started giving a bounty on cobras. Well the cost to raise cobras was cheaper than the bounty. This led to cobra farms. When they discovered this they stopped the program. The cobra farmers then just released all their cobras and the problem became worse. In the US paying for rat tails and feral hog ears led to similar results.
The fuel economy regulations for cars but not trucks killed the station wagon and gave rise to the SUV.
The videos are entertaining and educational. There were several that I was thinking they weren't bad ideas until the consequences of the action were explained. But I digress.

 

I lived in San Diego for 52 years, and in that time I saw all the chrome shops close down. The last one that I can recall that was in business closed its doors in the 90's. The shop owners that I knew were conscientious and met all the guidelines set by the governmental agencies...the problem was that the activists in these agencies had an agenda that went far beyond the health and welfare of the populace. In our hobby we see chrome as a cosmetic, in many other fields chrome is much more...these are the areas that are really impacted by these regulations. The next time you are in a bathroom take a look around at how much chrome there is in use. How about the actuator rods in shocks and other hydraulic lift cylinders. California doesn't HAVE to be the place where this work is done but how much of this work (and similar work) can they afford to keep expelling and hope to remain a viable state? The next major impact will be chemical feritlizers...European countries are reeling under the ESG restrictions on fertilizer usage. I saw a documentary on food production in the world and how much of our food supply is dependent on chemical fertilizers. California is more farmland than beach...anyone figured that one out yet?

 

Overly aggressive environmental regulations have the unintended consequence of limiting employment opportunities. Having a job and being able to support yourself and your family is essential to living a happy meaningful life. In my part of the world, good paying jobs are scarce. Poverty is quite common. Many families are making do living on welfare and food stamps. Mining companies would like to come in and responsibly provide much needed employment opportunities for struggling families in our area, but they are prevented from doing so by unnecessarily burdensome regulations. Living in poverty supported by government assistance programs is not without it's own set of dire consequences every bit as real and as serious as the environmental concerns that are so often raised.

Jim

 

My opinion has been covered by Joe, Charlie and Jim above.

I know I'll probably get heat for this but it seems every time someone of a certain political leaning comes up with solution to a problem that really isn't there the problem only gets worse.

Again, I say we are one of the most regulated countries in the world. They made be others a little worse regulation wise but they aren't nearly a productive as the US, I personally don't see many "Made in Denmark" or "Made in the Netherlands" tags on the products I buy. In my business I occasionally see them high tech items but the vast majority of the "Made In" tags are from countries that don't give a rip about the environment, wages or employee safety.

All California is going to do is push out more businesses and hard working people and become a bigger welfare state. Their cancerous thinking, unfortunately, spreads to the rest of the country.

 

Only if states allow it. That is why state level elections are so important. And now the governor of California is a leading early candidate for 2024.