One of my favorite parts of DPC yesterday was the sponsorship by Marathon. I asked the guy at the booth if their plan for “a greener future” included, uh, making the air not smell terrible. He showed me a series of graphs that showed that Marathon’s emissions have actually fallen– finally below EPA mandated levels! That’s right, folks, they’re complying with the law! He then blamed Zug Island and AK Steel for most of the emissions.
I’m not really sure what to believe. I do know, though, that driving up I-75 before the Rouge River, one’s olfactory cortex registers that strong, stale fart smell of refinery. And sometimes– sometimes things blow up. Minor explosions? Just part of the business-friendly regulatory environment. It’s all worth it, right? If we can keep a few engineers employed? Never mind that they all live far away from this facility while the neighborhood residents breathe in some of the most polluted air in the country.
You know what, though? I’m not complaining too much. I got a little battery charger out of the deal!
