fixed, but not really

Over the last several months, I've noticed a number of locations where street lights are on all the time - on Longwood from 95th to 97th, westbound along 97th from Longwood, and in other spots. Eventually they go dark and aren't on at all. Then they get "fixed" and are on 24/7 again.

This has been a problem since the "upgrade" about a year ago, when many street lights that had been dark for a long time were relit, and all the street lights in our area got brighter. We really didn't need brighter lights or the increased light pollution that came with that increase in brightness.

When I see these lights on continuously for weeks and months at a time, I have to wonder how many thousands of taxpayer dollars are wasted on this unneeded use of electricity. How much extra pollution is generated in the creation of this electricity? Did a bunch of faulty sensors get installed, or is there another reason?

save our lake

Campaigns are popping up to fight Indiana's approval for BP's expansion and increased dumping of ammonia and sludge into Lake Michigan.

Click here for the Chicago Park District's web page and petition.

The Illinois Coalition for Peace and Justice also has a web page and petition on the subject.

It's no big surprise that BP's faux environmental image ("green" image logo and yellow ad campaign) is greenwash. The real plan: expansion of the Whiting refinery to process heavier, dirtier crude oil from Canada's tar sands (article 1, article 2).

The fact that oil companies are desperate enough strip mine vast areas and spend big bucks to develop refinery capacity at a much higher cost per barrel should be a wake-up to a gas-thirsty America. It's time to say enough.

Time to reduce consumption, folks. How about increased CAFE standards and a carbon tax? This affects much more than Lake Michigan water quality.

Oil companies are making record profits and should be required by law to invest more in reducing pollution of all types. Letting them produce more pollution is not an acceptable option.

BP is such a lovely neighbor

Why should Indiana be able to okay increasing pollution from BP's Whiting oil refinery that is likely to affect Illinois and Michigan much more than Indiana? The planned BP expansion may help ease ease the supply crunch for the special gas blend required here to lower air pollution, possibly lowering gas prices down the line. However, that does not justify the fact that BP did not give any advance notification to city of Chicago officials, who read about it in last Sunday's Tribune.

I'm glad to hear that our elected representatives are taking action to get Indiana to reconsider this environmentally costly decision. I have to wonder why the EPA ever approved this. Oh wait, this is the EPA under Shrub....