From here:
Besides BP's big oil leak, now we have one close to home. One of the lead stories in today's NWI Times is about the pipeline leak in Marshall, Michigan. The pipeline runs from Griffith to Sarnia, Ontario carrying 8 million gallons of crude oil per day. The leak spit out 840,000 gallons before they got it stopped. I've been to Marshall, it's a lovely town, damn shame it has to be polluted by crude oil.
Eventually we're all going to have to realize that driving around every where we want, whenever we want, is not the best policy. I think China just passed us up as the number one energy consumer. Not that we've gotten better, it's that China's using more. India is likewise using more as the standard of living rises. Something's going to have to give one of these days and you and I are going to see some tall prices at the pump again. I do find it interesting that the gas prices remained low when oil started gushing out into the Gulf, when any other time all there had to be was a bad weather forecast for that region and the price of gas would jump 20 cents. I guess it's just bad form to gouge when you're in the middle of the nation's largest environmental disaster of all time. They were able to bump it up as soon as the cap looked like it was going to work, however.
Well, I'm off to run some errands in my terribly inefficient internal combustion engine powered pickup truck, public transportation being nonexistent. They are planning on putting a bike lane in along the state highway I'll be taking. Even though I'll put in 60 miles today, I'd consider riding the bike and trailer if there was a decent way of getting up that way without putting myself too much in harms way. Instead of the new Illiana expressway they're planning on putting through here, maybe they could put a little effort into thinking of alternatives to more traffic criss-crossing the State of Indiana. You know, we all saw this coming back in the 70's. You would think by now people would realize that if you build more roads you don't eliminate traffic, you get more. In fact that's one of the selling points of the new expressway - new development. Dumb asses.
2 comments:
"Here, here," says your fellow biker and environmentalist. What I wouldn't do for bike lanes on Highways 10 and 49! That and a few less maniac dogs. Of course, I've never had an issue with a dog when I was on the highway. One time when I was in Colorado, I heard that anytime they modify or build a road there, they had to include bike lanes. Good for them!
Alternative means of transportation, including bike lanes, are now supposed to be included in the planning in every state, I believe. From the American Bicyclist: "In March, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and the U.S. Department of Transportation released an outstanding policy statement saying that 'walking and bicycling foster safer, more livable, family-friendly communities; promote physical activity and health; and reduce vehicle emissions and fuel use.'"
The president of the League of American Bicyclists just returned from a conference in Copenhagen, which is probably the most bicycle friendly city in the world, but it took 30-40 years to make it so. It will probably take that long before Route 10 gets a bike lane. Route 49 has one in the works. I'm thinking the oil spills might accelerate the rate of change.
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