Wandering through the Lone Star State yesterday I sat down in a restaurant and picked up the Dallas Morning News business section and the top right headline is:
Cash for cars plan ready to gear up
WTF? Texas yup. Actually going to pay to get polluter cars off the road.
More below the fold:
The world has gone nuts - Texas is going green. It gets better because the plan:
The State should begin taking applications next week for a program that offers vouchers of up to $3,5000 to get old, polluting cars and trucks off the road.
The expected start on Wednesday ..
The basic rules have not changed. Any gas powered car or truck at least 10 years old - meaning a model year 1997 or older - is eligible. The vehicle must have been registered .. for at least twelve months before the voucher application and it must have passed an inspection or emissions test within the last 15 months. (my added emphasis)
Participants must also meet income standards since the program is largely aimed at low income residents who have no choice but to drive older cars, which typically emit 10 to 30 time as much pollution as new cars
Dallas Morning News - December 6, 2007 by Terry Box (tbox@dallasnews.com)
Texas has set aside $100 million for this.
So let me get this straight - Texas is going to give vouchers to low income residents to help get them newer, less polluting cars? Yep.
Now this is not completely altruistic - the reason Texas is doing this is to get air quality credits from the EPA to offset the crap the Houston Ship Channel region and others put in the air. But if the lower income residents get some help - rather than just corporate gimmees - to help correct the problems, I have to give them kudos.