there's another thread going on about this sort of thing, i posted a
long winded reply there. the gist of it is this: how much does it cost to inspect these containers? because I did a little math, and I am positive they could give away free emissions control systems (i.e. a muffler) to every person who had their motor confiscated instead for a massive savings.
this is ignoring any actual emissions numbers about the motors to begin with. because I could talk all day about how small displacement motors emit fewer pollutants over the lifetime of the engine due to the smaller amount of air displaced compared to a larger "less polluting" motor.
you could further break down the emission numbers by looking at fuel economy. it's not just a matter of pollutants per cubic inch of exhaust gas, it is also a matter of pollutants per unit of exhaust gas BY DISTANCE TRAVELED.
assuming I have a car that produced a third of the emissions per minute while running than an MB but it uses twice the gasoline to do it, that car polluted MORE during a given commute than the bike would.
also all the gas-engines in the world don't hold a candle to the greenhouse gas emissions of international shipping vessels, which do not produce even half the emission of the American cattle population.
this is tax dollars being burnt.
also I can't help but laugh at EPA Regional Administrator Jared Blumenfeld for holding a remote controlled truck up to a crowd and declaring that "we need every single pound of pollution reduced that we can find" standing in front of a
container ship.
the fact is there is no "moped owners lobby" and that is why the epa is doing this, nobody will fight them in court for trying, and god forbid they admit that their
Agency is unable to effectively
Protect the
Environment.
[fake edit] oops, this reply got long winded too...