Ah progress….

Its what happens when we learn something. Progression is a wonderful thing and humans are doing it all the time. But when we progress, it mostly seems to be by way of a longer than necessary route. Think lead paint. It’s so “spread-ably” good and durable! It also makes you sick. We learned that only after painting our schools with it. Think asbestos. So snugly warm!….And fire-proof! That’s progress! It also caused millions to die slowly and painfully. Well, we learned from that lesson, rest assured.

Now, allow me to me let you in on yet another new vision of human progress - a floating city, four football fields long, filled to the gills with pressurized liquid natural gas. Even worse, this monstrosity will be permanently moored in the center of  New York’s crown jewel of estuaries, the Long Island Sound. The project will supposedly save gas customers $200 dollars a year. In reality, it will be an industrial stain on this abundant and fragile eco-system. Years from now, we will learn either by way of sudden industrial disaster or by the task of cleaning up a decrepit, floating mass of industrial antiquity. Progress can be painful without a little forethought.  This is why the Broadwater natural gas terminal lies firmly in the glare of our hairy eyeball.

There’s a shorter way to real progress… More on this to come…In the meantime, check out the heroic efforts of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment…