It's about time Congress revisited this. I'd hate to think it would take the Supreme Court to figure this out.....WASHINGTON – Members of Congress are beginning to have second thoughts about the ban on incandescent light bulbs effective in 2014 as a result of an energy bill signed into law earlier this year.
Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, says his objection is very basic – the Constitution doesn't authorize Congress to do anything remotely like banning a product that has been used safely and efficiently for more than 100 years in favor of Chinese-imported compact fluorescent light bulbs that pose considerable health and safety risks.
From the floor of the House, Poe addressed the dangers of the CFL bulbs, explaining the extensive cleanup required by the Environmental Protection Agency for simply breaking a bulb. When a bulb, which contains mercury, is broken, according to the EPA, the room must be evacuated for 15 minutes and aired out with windows, but not before all glass is removed, placed in a sealed glass jar and disposed of outside. Any remaining glass must be picked up with tape. In addition, central heating or air conditioning units must be turned off.
Typically, legislators in Washington ferret out ways to skirt the Constitution on a daily basis. It's refreshing to hear one of them actually invoking the Constitution as a basis upon which to overturn idiotic legislation. And hopefully this means that my wife and I can stop hoarding incandescent bulbs.
1 comment:
I seriously hope this trend keeps up.
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