Rita is now the third most intense hurricane in the recorded history of the Atlantic basin, measuring 898 millibars of pressure. At the rate it’s progressing, this category 5 storm is going to wipe Galveston off the face of the Earth…and then keep going. It could still be a category 1 hurricane by the time it reaches Oklahoma! It could make the damage from Katrina look like a mild breeze.
Unfortunately, that’s the obvious stuff. Rita is also providing a lesson in the ridiculous and the outrageous.
Thanks to the brilliance of American oil barons, 50% of U.S. refinery capacity sits along the Gulf coast. Half of this capacity has already been strangled by the monster that was Hurricane Katrina. Now, Rita intends to finish the job, and take out what was left behind.
The end results?
1—Gasoline is about to hit neary $2 a litre in Southern Ontario. This is obscene — nothing has happened YET!
2—I’m now seriously thinking about purchasing a transit pass — the first one I’ve purchased since my university days. Thanks to Grand River Transit and its new ixpress route, I have the option of limiting my driving capacity quite a bit…but did I ever truly believe it was going to come to this?
Rita is certainly bringing enlightenment to the world…in the form of the biggest energy bitch-slap the West has experienced since the 1970s. Forget the hand-wringing over post-9/11 terrorism and security worries. Astronomical energy costs and shrinking non-renewable supplies…THIS is the new normal.
Isn’t it time we did something about this? Someone…? Anyone…?
