Not Eudora
By Harry Welty
Published Feb
3, 2006
CANNED
There’s nothing like flying over the world’s biggest
parking lot to help you focus on
America
’s addiction to oil. I drew that conclusion over twenty years ago flying into
Orlando
and every trip back to
Florida
brings me the same sensation. So, I was pleased to hear President Bush
channeling Jimmy Carter last night in his State of the Union Address when he
admitted the addiction.
Up to now George has been more inclined to fuel our addiction with generous tax
deductions for SUV’s than curb it with 55 MPH speed limits but it was nice to
hear his concern. Of course, he did raise the subject of hydrogen fueled cars in
his 2003 SOTU Address but he kind of dropped the ball on that idea.
All that
Florida
pavement, itself a major petroleum distillate, keeps expanding. When my
Father-in-Law’s home was built a hundred miles north of
Miami
, twenty-five years ago, Jupiter was still pretty rural. Today the last patch of
undeveloped soil across from his house has been leveled as contractors turn from
hurricane repair back to housing development.
Leaving for church with him on a Sunday gave me a sense for how many cars his
neighbors owned. Home from their weekday commutes each house averaged three
vehicles per driveway. Because the garages were all closed there could have been
even more cars hidden away.
At least twice during my two week visit to the Sunshine
State I was greeted by Floridians with a kind of mantra about how happy they
were to welcome 1000 of us outsiders to the state everyday. Even the recent
hurricanes have failed to put a dent in the state’s in-migration. Why, I saw
Hispanic day laborers for the first time in Jupiter lining up for black market
jobs.
Since a third of Florida lies less than twenty feet above sea level what
hasn’t blown down in a hurricane might soon be flooded if global warming melts
Greenland’s Ice Sheet. Should this happen future visitors could visit
Disneyland
in
Orlando
without having a three hour drive to the beach. Minnesotans might start
greeting Floridians with a similar welcome about the coastal refugees returning
north.
Listen to me kvetch. Who am I kidding? I learned a long time ago, around the
time of the first Earth Day, that environmental fear mongering was a tough sell
politically. In 1972 as I was becoming a Republican I also campaigned for a
neighbor who was running for the legislature as a Democrat. David Cummiskey, a
couple years my senior, had skipped college politics and gotten elected to the
Mankato City Council. Shortly thereafter Dave became a state legislator and
shared a hotel room in
St. Paul
with
Duluth
’s newly elected Mike Jaros.
I discovered Mike’s connection to Dave a few years later in 1976 after I filed
to run against Jaros. I called Mike up after I filed against him and we had a
friendly cup of coffee at Perkins. (That was in the innocent days before it was
necessary to organize a civility project to make politicians behave like
adults). Mike and I shook our heads together sadly over the grim fate that
befell Dave.
Dave was intent on cleaning up the environment by ending the casual tossing of
pop cans out of car windows. Noting that aluminum was easily recyclable
Cummiskey introduced legislation to put a small deposit on aluminum cans much as
Iowa
has since done. All hell broke lose.
Mankato
was the home of the Continental Can Company and its union turned on Dave.
Heeding Management’s warning that aluminum can deposits would put the company
at a disadvantage with plastic and glass container manufacturers the union set
out to unseat Dave and succeeded.
Perhaps the union should have been more worried about threats other than the
environmental movement. I just ran a Google search on
Mankato
’s Continental Can but could find no contemporary reference to it.
I can appreciate President Bush’s frustration as the need for oil rises along
with its price. It doesn’t help that his own brother
Jeb
,
Florida
’s Governor, has been resisting Federal pressure to explore for oil off the
Florida
coast. What’s a President to do? Might as well go green.
Meanwhile the petroleum addiction continues unabated and
Florida
is still being paved over. Tiger Woods just bought some property on a barrier
island not far from my Father-in-law and last year Donald Trump got married on
his nearby estate. I can’t imagine that either of these new Floridians would
want their ocean views blighted by
Texas
sized oil rigs. Maybe the President could talk them both into buying a hydrogen
car.
Welty is a small time politician who lets
it all hang out at: www.snowbizz.com
