...Thus ensuring that Democrats will never win an election in the South again...

Let’s, for a moment, assume that the following statements are true:

1. While Republicans tend to have some concern over the environment, it has never been a significant part of the overall Republican platform;

2. Environmentalists have a vested interest in getting more Democrats in office as affords them a much better chance of getting their initiatives, without respect to their asininity in many cases, to be taken seriously;

3. NASCAR estimates a fan base of over 75 million people, most of whom are of voting age;

4. The majority of NASCAR fans reside in largely “red” states;

5. Each political party with a dog in the hunt in 2004 courted “NASCAR Dads” as they made up a significant voting block;

Assuming then that each of these were true, what kind of idiot would send a letter like this to the EPA?

Mr. Stephen Johnson
USEPA Headquarters Ariel Rios Building
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Mail Code: 1101A
Washington, DC 20460

Dear Mr. Johnson:

I am writing to you about the need to monitor toxic lead emissions that could harm the health of people attending or living near NASCAR races.

As you probably know, the Clean Air Act exempts gasoline used in racing cars from the general ban on leaded gasoline.

The EPA reportedly has been working for several years in a “partnership” with NASCAR to encourage a voluntary phase-out of leaded gasoline. NASCAR reports to me that it has not yet found what it considers a suitable substitute.

Sincere NASCAR lead emissions are likely to continue unabated for the foreseeable future, I was struck by a passage in the recently published EPA draft criteria document for lead, in which EPA scientists note that “the combustion of racing fuel likely elevates airborne Pb concentrations in the nearby area. This may pose a serious health risk to some subpopulations such as residents living in the vicinity of racetracks, fuel attendants, racing crew and staff, and spectators.”

Separately, researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine recently reported that 40% of tested NASCAR team members had high levels of lead in their blood.

As the EPA itself has reported, lead causes damage to the kidneys, liver, brain and nerves, and other organs. Even low levels of lead damage the brain and nerves in fetuses and young children, resulting in learning deficits and lowered IQ.

Because of the extraordinarily toxic nature of lead, most of the world has moved to eliminate its use in gasoline. The Washington Post reported earlier this month, for example, that all of sub-Saharan Africa has ended production of leaded gasoline.

Unfortunately, the health protections given to those in sub-Saharan Africa are not shared by children and others attending NASCAR events or living near race tracks.

Because EPA has determined that NASCAR lead emissions “may pose a serious health risk,” the agency should conduct a few simple tests to find out if that threat is real. And so I am requesting that, as you develop EPA’s new budget request to Congress, you include a request for appropriations to monitor for lead emissions at NASCAR race events. I am sure that a modest amount of money would either document the concerns raised by the agency, or put those concerns to rest.

Thank you for taking time to review this matter. I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,
Frank O’Donnell
PresidentClean Air Watch

I'm not going to detail his piss-poor writing abilities, nor am I going to debate the science in this, although some of the claims are dubious at best. I will, however, point out a couple more facts to put this into perspective:

Until the early 1970s, almost every drop of gasoline sold was leaded and leaded gas was still fairly prominent even until my early teens. I remember the option being "Regular" or "Unleaded" throughout my childhood.

Today, our country consumes 360 million gallons of gasoline per day. Granted, we have more cars on the roads, but they’re much more fuel efficient so, just for fun, let’s say that we were burning 300 million gallons of leaded fuel per day in 1970 or 109.5 billion gallons per year. That’s a bunch of lead!

Using Atlanta Motor Speedway as a benchmark, NASCAR uses about 10,000 gallons on a race weekend (and there are three races here during each of those weekends).There are 36 race weekends per year, equaling 360,000 gallons. Add practice sessions each driver is allowed during the year, exhibition races, etc. and it’s fair to assume NASCAR uses approximately 500,000 gallons of leaded fuel per year.

Now, I ask, is it really worth alienating a significant portion of the overall population and losing political points you really cannot spare over annual lead emissions equal to 1 sixth of 1% of daily lead emissions 36 years ago?

To borrow from the letter: “As the EPA itself has reported, lead causes damage to the kidneys, liver, brain and nerves, and other organs. Even low levels of lead damage the brain and nerves in fetuses and young children, resulting in learning deficits and lowered IQ.”

If Mr. O’Donnell is willing to take a political risk like this, I’d say it can only be attributed to all of the lead his body absorbed when he was a young child. If I were him, I'd get that liver and those kidneys checked out too.