Rolling Coal: Conservatives ‘screw’ Obama by modifying trucks to spew toxic black smoke
Conservatives who detest President Barack Obama and EPA clean air regulations are modifying their vehicles to purposefully spew black smoke into the atmosphere.
So-called "coal rollers" install smoke stacks and special equipment in their diesel trucks that makes the engine think that it needs more fuel, resulting in plumes of black smoke.
According to Slate's Dave Weigel, the phenomenon is not new, but it is becoming more popular among conservatives who want to protest the president and his efforts to clean up the environment.
“I run into a lot of people that really don’t like Obama at all,” a smoke stack seller in Wisconsin told Weigel. “If he’s into the environment, if he’s into this or that, we’re not. I hear a lot of that."
"To get a single stack on my truck—that’s my way of giving them the finger," he added. "You want clean air and a tiny carbon footprint? Well, screw you."
In June, Vocativ reported on the trend of "coal rollers" using their toxic exhaust as revenge against “nature nuffies" who drive environmentally friendly cars, like the Toyota Prius.
“The feeling around here is that everyone who drives a small car is a liberal,” a South Carolina truck owner named Ryan explained. “I rolled coal on a Prius once just because they were tailing me.”
“It’s bad for the environment. That’s definitely true,” he admitted. “And some of the kids that have diesel trucks can look like tools. And you can cause a wreck, but everything else about it is pretty good.”
The Clean Air Task Force estimates that pollutants from diesel vehicles "lead to 21,000 premature deaths each year and create a cancer risk that is seven times greater than the combined risk of all 181 other air toxics tracked by the EPA."
Watch the video below of a 2013 coal rollin' rally in Wisconsin.
Watch the video below from Newsy.
(h/t: Business Insider)