Articles by Ana Unruh Cohen

Rumors of a shortage of dump space were greatly exaggerated

I'm not a regular reader of the New York Times' business page, but on Friday this almost-worthy-of-Grist headline caught my eye: Waste Yes, Want Not.

Some of you might remember the saga of the Mobro 4000, the trash barge from New York that traveled the Eastern seaboard and Gulf of Mexico in 1987 searching out a final resting place for its cargo. I was a middle schooler in Corpus Christi, Texas when it came through our portion of the Intercoastal Waterway. I don't recall that it tried to stop in our port, but it was the talk of the town as it passed by. We weren't alone. The Mobro's odyssey was news across the country and brought about much hand wringing about the shortage of space to dump the nation's trash.

Turns out -- in the words of the subheadline -- Rumors of a Shortage of Dump Space Were Greatly Exaggerated.

More on sprawl

Pop quiz: Where are the most densely populated cities in the U.S.?

If you conjured up visions of the artificial canyons of Manhattan or the rowhouses of most older Eastern cities, you would be wrong. As the Washington Post reports this morning, it turns out that only 3 of the top 15 most densely populated cities are east of (or on) the Mississippi River. Talk about myth-busting over the morning OJ!

LA tops the list, followed closely by San Fran. San Jose comes in third and New York shows up in the number four slot. New Orleans is fifth, but then you have to go all the way to 13 before you get another Eastern city -- Miami! California is home to 9 of the 15 most densely populated cities in America.

Update [2005-8-11 8:30:16 by Ana Unruh Cohen]: Kudos to Andy on his analysis on this morning's Washington Post story. But in our initial posts neither of us mentioned this dark side of LA's density, which is also worth pondering over your ice tea at lunch. From the story:

There is another kind of infill. It occurs -- without planning, rubbish removal or construction -- when poor people pack into old houses and apartments. This is the single most important reason Los Angeles has become the nation's densest urban area, housing experts say.

Senate passes energy bill

The senate just passed the energy bill 74-26. You'll eventually be able to see the roll call votes here.

Prior to the final vote, Sen. Feingold offered a budget point of order. That failed 71-29.

To modify another biblical verse: Ana wept.

The energy bill negotiations are entering the home stretch.

The conferees were hard at work over the weekend and are meeting this evening at 5 pm EST to have what might be the last official meeting of the conference. All the remaining controversial items are on the table. Will Rep. Barton be able to get support for his MTBE deal? Will Sen. Bingaman's climate change language survive? How much ethanol will the country be required to use by 2012? Tune in and find out.

Missed the early episodes? Catch up with these factsheets courtesy of Rep. Waxman.