swap_catz t1_j5ovfxt wrote on January 24, 2023 at 3:23 PM

Reply to comment by BasilExposition75 in Long Wharf Submerged 1/23/23 by TuggieBoi420

It's a Congress issue. The Dredging Act of 1906 means modern Dredging Ships can't even operate in the US. Its a weird catch 22 because you needed deeper channels to make the modern ships, but you need modern ships to make deeper channels. European ships have been dredging deep for 50 years and would easily just come over and do projects, but because of a weird law, the ships must be built and operated in the US. Right now, there are only 2 real dredging ships that are mostly designed for rivers, and they're already booked and overworked trying to deepen the Mississippi, which is currently so low ships are getting stuck every season. I definitely predict Biden and this congress has to repeal it within the next few years because its an obvious bottleneck in shipping capacity thats just dumb. On the East Coast, Manhattan also need locks yesterday. Word on the street is the Navy frequently works in knee deep water down south there. It would also open up more jobs modernizing Boston and Philadephia's shipping lanes and allowing modern ships to dock there. More shipping equals more work and less dependence on inefficient trucks shipping from Bayonne, NJ or Savanna, GA.

Thanks Teddy Roosevelt for ruining this for us.

2tuna2furious t1_j5pfulz wrote on January 24, 2023 at 5:31 PM

This and the Jones Act or some of the most harmful regulations the USA has

lucida t1_j5r3yke wrote on January 24, 2023 at 11:45 PM

Isn't dredging terrible for the environment?

swap_catz t1_j5r82l7 wrote on January 25, 2023 at 12:13 AM

As one of those Libertarian types, I not only believe humans involvement in climate change is real, but I also believe we're past the point of no return and probably need to make some unwanted adjustments to save lower socio-economic classes from a social upheaval weather event that will only affect poor people. Many of the already low lying land is practically a ghetto (East Boston, Southie, Dorchester, Quincy). Remember what happened when the levies broke in Louisiana? I'm not even going to discuss how gas energy is extremely efficient and rug-pulling poor people who's next gallon of gas is getting them to the grocery store or picking up their kids from school. Imagine telling India their poor people can't have their first gas scooter and stunting their growth.

Look we're going to have to do a few dirty things to make things better for everyone.

If we really cared about the environment we would rapidly move to nuclear energy to stop carbon emissions, since that has the most effect. I kind of hate the issue with arguing over small change when the big issues are right there, and I'm willing to compromise to make that 80% cleanup while sacrificing 20%. Some crabs may have to be sacrificed here.

lucida t1_j5r8bx9 wrote on January 25, 2023 at 12:15 AM

TIL there are ghettos in Boston

swap_catz t1_j5ra8be wrote on January 25, 2023 at 12:28 AM

It's a loose statement. I know our ghettos are miles ahead of ghettos in every place in the world and even in this country. I also know if there's a hurricane event like Ira or Sandy that hits Boston, you're going to have a lot of Black and Brown people displaced or underwater with no ability or finances to move without waiting for FEMA for years, and a humanitarian crisis in the short term.

R_Morley t1_j5uuny4 wrote on January 25, 2023 at 6:54 PM

Why cannot we simply eat the poor? It is such a modest proposal and would save me from all this, gas nonsense.

FrankySobotka t1_j5xzxyc wrote on January 26, 2023 at 9:54 AM

What are these "unwanted adjustments" you speak of

Also kind of curious how your last paragraph meshes with your libertarian worldview

swap_catz t1_j5ytrki wrote on January 26, 2023 at 2:50 PM

The unwanted adjustments are these seawall and levie structures, and the fact that were going to have to do geoengineering at this point, or otherwise the cities will sink within our lifetimes.

Technolibertarian also. Classical libertarianism is wildly useless at this point. We cant simply go live in the mountains anymore in a globalized high tech society. You just wouldn't have things like MRNA vaccines, bone mesh, and sushi. I'm somewhere between corpo-libertarian and digital democracy. https://www.radicalxchange.org/media/blog/political-ideologies-for-the-21st-century/

A good example of this is this exact situation where I think if the government doesn't step in here and remove this stupid law, the cities will sink and the government will continue to lose what little credibility they have. I'm giving them a chance here at least.