The Crossroads of Air Pollution

I have just been informed by my lovely daughter-in-law that Indy is the sixth most toxic city in the nation. For the most part she is correct. However, if the city planners 150+ years ago had known about the creation of the EPA, they would have laid out the city a little differently.

There is no dispute that if you tape a plain piece of paper to the hood of your car on a typical day in Indianapolis, there will be a layer of black grit on it by the end of the day. Hey, we're breathing this crap. No wonder I can't run a marathon in spite of the fact I have never trained for one. Nevertheless, the air is full of crud. Where's it coming from? Well, very innocently most of the industry, power plants, airports, and major distribution warehouses with the affiliated trucking companies are all located on the west side of town. With the prevailing wind out of the west all of the crud gets blown right over the main part of town where the EPA very sensibly measures air pollution.

Cities with the industrial bases on the east, north, or south sides of town just get grazed by the nasty little boogers. So, until Cummins Engine finds a way to catch all of the particulates from diesel engines, IPL builds a nuclear plant somewhere downwind so all of the radioactive fallout lands on Ohio, and the airlines start using biofuels we are going to be on the list. It is kind of like building a campfire and then standing in the smoke while you roast your weenies.