Save Our Air—Ban the Catalytic Converter

SAVE OUR AIR—BAN THE CATALYTIC CONVERTER

In the wake of the adoption by the California Air Resources Board of emissions standards so tough that catalytic converters probably will have to be fitted to 1984-and-later motorcycles, comes this news:

An environmental researcher has asked Congress to consider banning catalytic converters. Paul Langerman says the converters have done little to clean up the air, while prompting a new threat acid rain.

Langerman maintains that catalytic converters are the principal source of sulfur dioxide emissions. Acid rain results when the toxic gas mixes with moisture in the atmosphere, producing sulfuric acid.

In addition, Langerman chalks up most of the improvements in air quality in recent years not to the converters, but to the shrinking size of the average car. “(They get better mileage and emit a lower amount of pollutants than larger cars because of their lower weight and smaller engines,” he says.

“It is becoming increasingly apparent that the liabilities outweigh the assets in any accounting of the value of the catalytic converter,” says Langerman.

You listening, CARB?