June 4, 2004

St. Louis stop #1

Old Chain of Rocks Bridge, North County

I was thrilled to welcome the Route 66 Hybrid Evolution Tour and Colleen Sarna to my home state of Missouri, and St. Louis volunteers and I had planned a special event. For the first Show-Me state stop, we’d been granted permission to drive across the original bridge that carried Route 66 across the Mississippi River. The old Chain of Rocks Bridge actually closed to automobile traffic years ago, then reopened as a pedestrian and biking bridge. So this was a rare privilege! The narrow bridge spans a full mile of the muddy Mississippi and features spectacular views of downtown St. Louis plus nostalgic Route 66 signage that whisks visitors back in time.

The Tour was met by Sierra Club hikers and other members from Missouri and Illinois plus 15 students taking a summer conservation class at DeSmet high school. The teens and instructor Sean Cavanaugh had biked a dozen miles from downtown St. Louis.

Organizer Colleen Sarna told the assembled crowd about her Illinois tour adventures, in which the gas-sipping 2004 Toyota Prius achieved an impressive 50.1 miles per gallon. Then we talked about why it’s so important that we evolve with clean energy solutions here in the bi-state region.

This beautiful bridge linking our two states, we explained, symbolizes our mutual concerns for the quality and safety of our air, water, and environment. Air pollution doesn’t stop at the river, and we face serious health problems from smog and soot. St. Louis metropolitan region has been ranked 3^rd worst in the nation for asthma by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, and it has consistently received failing grades from the American Lung Association for unhealthy ground-ozone levels. Not surprisingly, on April 15 of this year, U.S. EPA listed eight of our metro counties in non-attainment under the new 8-hour ozone standards—four counties on the Illinois side of the river, and three plus the city of St. Louis in Missouri.

We must evolve and do better, and we need to work together. Unfortunately, people in the St. Louis area may soon face dramatic increases in air and water pollution from three major new sources—the Baldwin coal-fired power plant expansion and a new Peabody coal plant in Illinois, plus Holcim, the world’s largest cement plant (also coal-fired) in Missouri, south of St. Louis. (For details, please visit missouri.sierraclub.org/emg.)

Yet the Bush administration, rather than taking us in the right direction, puts our communities at greater risk. Instead of enforcing the Clean Air Act and requiring dirty power plants to reduce pollution, the Bush administration has sought to weaken protections and let big polluters off the hook. Instead of investing in the development of cleaner sources of energy such as wind power, the Bush energy plan would give billions of taxpayer-funded handouts to the polluting coal, oil, gas, and nuclear industries. Is that what we need in Missouri and Illinois and the rest of the country? Is that evolution?

After signing postcards asking the Bush administration to support clean energy solutions, everybody was eager to check out the hybrids—the red Prius, plus a hybrid Honda Civic and the Honda Insight. We raffled off some Sierra Club items, and had fun taking more pictures. Afterwards, some of us headed to Ted Drewes Frozen Custard, a beloved St. Louis landmark that opened on Route 66 way back in 1941.

A round of Thank Yous! Much appreciation to representatives from Jay Wolfe Toyota and St. Louis Honda, who did a great job fielding the onslaught of questions. Thanks also to all our volunteers who helped make this event come together. Washington University intern Lauren Katims helped set up the information table and took terrific event photos, and volunteer Shane Staten loaned us his hybrid Civic for a few hours. Thanks to Kevin at Trailnet for allowing us to drive over the bridge, to Sean Cavanaugh and the students from DeSmet for making the trek, to Suzanne Smith and her hikers, and to everybody else who came out to greet the Hybrid Evolution Tour and send it on its way!

-- Jill Miller