Longmeadow a bumble at best

In reading government officials' recent "reevaluation'" of Longmeadow Parkway, I was astounded by its glaring deficiency, regarding its inevitable attraction of exurban sprawl and its impacts on global warming. Noting this to project consultants at Kane County's hearing Aug. 30, they agreed. However, they hastened to note that criteria and methods for studying and calculating such impacts are unsettled at the federal level.

That's a shame considering the obvious, increased combustion of fossil fuel for: road material mining, production and transport; heavy equipment transport and operations on site; construction workforce commutes; longer commutes for a future population LMP would attract; the transport of construction material, equipment and workforce to build their homes; the heating, cooling and powering of them; likewise for the shopping corridors which follow; and of course the fossil fuel required to build, operate and maintain the municipal and utility infrastructure and public safety fleets to service this sort of unsustainable growth.

To be clear, the core issue of the LMP controversy, exemplified by the noted reevaluation, is not a naive misunderstanding or rank self interest of local residents and municipal officials opposing the project. The overwhelming majority of their recent public comments have made the quality of their research and the most pertinent facts about LMP resoundingly clear. It's a bumble at best and boondoggle at worst. On the contrary, the core problem is government officials' unquestioned support of an ecologically obsolete mode of development and stubborn inadmission of its destructive nature for water, land and atmosphere.

Truly, its time to stop what's being spun as responsibly led progress (LMP), and re-purpose the would-be funding, to incentivize relocalization of our economy and the development of solar tech and infrastructure to power it.

Dean Tripp

East Dundee