The Future is Green

[TheMann]

Excellent TL. I'd like to also suggest expansion of the Long Island Railroads' freight service. Due to lack of a good tunnel connection with the mainland, most of the freight in Long Island is shipped by trucks. Proposals have been around for a freight tunnel under NY Harbor for years, but none have reached fruition yet.

I was actually thinking of a bridge over Long Island Sound for both trains and automobiles, connecting with CSX's Boston Line near New Haven, CT. A freight tunnel under NY Harbor would face a variety of difficulties and doesn't account for the simple lack of space along the Harbor. Short of demolishing a number of properties to do so, you couldn't get that done easily, and even if you ran a rail line under NY Harbor, you'd either have to get it around the Marine Terminals in Jersey City or conenct to lines on Staten Island, which would require you to use the Arthur Kill lift bridge, which would rapidly become a bottleneck.

Second, Biodiesel. To make biodiesel, all one needs is vegetable oil and sodium hydroxide. One is left with glycerine and biodiesel, the latter of which will run in any diesel engine without modification (Rudolf Diesel's original idea for the diesel engine was for farmers to make their own fuel anyway).

That will be used, too, but the problem is that vegetable oil isn't exactly as common as gasoline, and I imagine that used cooking oil isn't as good for the purpose as virgin oil. Not to mention you are still turning food crop into fuel, which with high food prices serves nobody's purposes.

 

[TheMann]

In regards to Saturn, are the polymer bodyside panels being made still? (As part of a loyal Saturn family, we miss them.) They would reduce a car's weight, and still provide protection. On the other hand, with petroleum being more expensive, petroleum-based plastics will be more expensive too.
Meanwhile, are carbon fibers being more widely used in this timeline?

The Astra uses metal body panels, but the Aura and Vue use plastic ones. The oil prices aren't that expensive, and its a major selling point for Saturn vehicles. Plastic body panels will be more common in future automobiles from everyone in the industry.

Carbon fibre is still very expensive, which is why its not (yet) being used in quantity. That will change over time, too.

 

[tiggerfan68]

With regard to mass transit, it would seem logical to go ahead with one of the plans to create a system in the California Central Valley region, connecting Bay Area with Sacramento and points north and south

Possibly eventual linkup with LA

 

[TheMann]

With regard to mass transit, it would seem logical to go ahead with one of the plans to create a system in the California Central Valley region, connecting Bay Area with Sacramento and points north and south

Possibly eventual linkup with LA

California's High-Speed Rail Program, which will go a bit faster than OTL, will fix that.

 

[FDW]

California's High-Speed Rail Program, which will go a bit faster than OTL, will fix that.

Yeah, as the 9 billion dollars in bonds will go up for a vote in 2004 (as was originally planned), with the SF-LA link completed by 2012 and the full system being built out by 2020.

 

[Polish Eagle]

That will be used, too, but the problem is that vegetable oil isn't exactly as common as gasoline, and I imagine that used cooking oil isn't as good for the purpose as virgin oil. Not to mention you are still turning food crop into fuel, which with high food prices serves nobody's purposes.

Actually, provided that one doesn't use animal oil, Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) is perfectly good for the production of biodiesel. If one merely starts collecting the oil as waste from restaurants and fast-food joints, one can provide significant quantities of diesel fuel. Granted, it would only offset 1% of US oil usage, but it's still an idea.

As of 2000[update], the United States was producing in excess of 11 billion liters (2.9 billion U.S. gallons) of waste vegetable oil annually, mainly from industrial deep fryers in potato processing plants, snack food factories and fast food restaurants. If all those 11 billion liters could be collected and used to replace the energetically equivalent amount of petroleum (an ideal case), almost 1% of US oil consumption could be offset.[8] Use of waste vegetable oil as a fuel competes with some other uses of the commodity, which has effects on its price as a fuel and increases its cost as an input to the other uses as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WVO#Waste_vegetable_oil

 

[Riain]

In a recent book I read about energy decline the author posited that future biofuels will not come from food crops but forestry waste, in order to keep people fed.

 

[Slacker]

I was actually thinking of a bridge over Long Island Sound for both trains and automobiles, connecting with CSX's Boston Line near New Haven, CT. A freight tunnel under NY Harbor would face a variety of difficulties and doesn't account for the simple lack of space along the Harbor. Short of demolishing a number of properties to do so, you couldn't get that done easily, and even if you ran a rail line under NY Harbor, you'd either have to get it around the Marine Terminals in Jersey City or conenct to lines on Staten Island, which would require you to use the Arthur Kill lift bridge, which would rapidly become a bottleneck.

As a native of Long Island-yes please. NIMBYism killed off the Sound Bridge and it tacks on another hour plus going up to New England.

 

[FDW]

Okay, I've been doing my ruminating, and I've decided to go from metro area to metro area to showcase what Mass transit infrastructure has built by 2015 ITTL, I'll start of with Seattle, because I know it off the top of my head

Seattle, 2015

Light Rail: Seattle's Central Link is currently the only Light Rail line the Seattle Metro Area, but it's a monster of a line, carrying over 175,000 passengers daily and having a ridership per mile second only to Boston's Green Line. The line is unusual among Light Rail systems for several reasons, among them it's use of 1500 V DC (As opposed to the more common 600 and 750 V DC), and it's rather extensive grade separation (The segment north of the downtown has no grade crossings and the segment south of the downtown is completely separate from traffic crossings for about 2/3rds of it's length). The starter line between Westlake and S/154th st opened in June 2008 with the segment to Sea Tac Intl Airport opened in December 2008. Following this the Segment to South 200th st opened in September 2010, the segment to the University of Washington opened in November 2012 and the most recent opened in May 2014. Stations are as follows (North to South):

-Northgate Mall (opened May 2014)
-Ravenna (opened May 2014)
-Roosevelt (opened May 2014)
-Brooklyn (opened May 2014)
-University of Washington (opened November 2012)
-Volunteer Park (opened November 2012)
-Capitol Hill (opened November 2012)
-First Hill (opened November 2012)
-Westlake (opened September 1990, Light Rail started operating June 2008)
-University St (opened September 1990, Light Rail started operating June 2008)
-Pioneer Square (opened September 1990, Light Rail started operating June 2008)
-International District (opened September 1990, Light Rail started operating June 2008)
-Stadium (opened June 2008)
-SoDo (opened June 2008)
-Beacon Hill (opened June 2008)
-Mt Baker (opened June 2008)
-Columbia City (opened June 2008)
-Graham (opened June 2008)
-Othello (opened June 2008)
-Rainier Beach (opened June 2008)
-Boeing Acess Rd (opened June 2008)
-Tukwila/S 154th St (opened June 2008)
-SeaTac International Airport (opened December 2008)
-S 200th st (opened September 2010)

Currently there are several extension under construction, among them extensions east over I-90 to Bellevue and Redmond, North up I-5 to Lynwood, and South down I-5 to Tacoma. Currently service operates with 4-car train sets, but all stations have been designed to allow for future expansion to 6-car trains.

Commuter Rail: Seattle Currently has three commuter rail lines, known as Sounder North, Sounder South, and Sounder East. The three lines combine for about 65,000 riders daily, with Sounder South being the most heavily patronized of the three lines. Sounder South and Sounder North use Bombardier Bi-Level coaches of the same design used on toronto's suburban GO train services, while Sounder East uses lighter DMU's similar to the Bombardier Talent.

Stations are as follows:

Sounder South (Stations North to South):
-Seattle King Street
-Boeing Acess Rd
-Tukwila
-Kent
-Auburn
-N.Sumner
-Sumner
-Puyallup
-Waller
-Tacoma Dome
-S. Tacoma
-Lakewood
-American Lake
-Dupont
-Marvin Rd
-Lacey/St. Martins College
-Boulevard Rd
-D.T. Olympia
Sounder South operates 34 round trips split as follows: 12 peak direction round trips, 8 reverse peak direction round trips (Peak hours are defined as 5:30-9:30 am and 3:30-7:30 pm here, Peak direction is North in the Mornings, South in the Afternoons), 9 Midday round trips, and 5 evening round trips. Sounder South operates 24 round trips on Saturdays and 16 on sundays.

Sounder North (stations South to North):
-Seattle King street
-Broad St
-Ballard
-Richmond Beach
-Edmonds
-Mukilteo
-D.T. Everett
-N. Everett
-Marysville
-N. Marysville/Smokey Point
-Arlington
Sounder North has 20 round trips split as follows 8 peak direction, 4 reverse peak (here Peak direction is South in the mornings, North in the Afternoons), 6 Midday, and 2 evening. Sounder North operates 14 round trips on Saturdays and 10 on Sundays.

Sounder East (Stations South to North):
-Tukwila
-S Renton
-D.T. Renton
-Newcastle
-Factoria
-Wilburton
-Overlake Hospital
-S Kirkland
-Houghton
-D.T. Kirkland
-NoKirk
-Totem Lake
-S. Woodinville
-D.T. Woodinville
-N. Woodinville
-Maltby
-Cathcart
-D.T. Snohomish
Sounder East offers 34 round trips daily, with trains every 30 min from 5:30am to 7:30 pm, every 60 min from 7:30 pm to 12:30 am, and one addition round trip at 4:30 am. On weekends service is every 45 min from 6:30 am to 12:30 am.

Streetcars: Currently Seattle has several streetcar Lines, built out over the past several years, the lines are as follows:

-Ballard streetcar: Goes from King street station to Ballard commons via 1st Ave, South Lake Union, Fremont bridge, and Leary Way.

-Phinney streetcar: Goes from King st station to Northgate LINK via 1st ave, South Lake Union, Fremont Bridge, Woodland Zoo, Greenwood Ave,N 85th st, N Wallingford Av, College Wy, NE Northgate Wy,NE 5th Ave.

-Wedgewood streetcar: Goes from King st station to NE 85th St and NE 35th Ave via 1st Ave, South Lake Union, Eastlake, University Way, NE 65th st, NE 50th Ave, NE 75th st, and NE 40th Ave.

-Broadway/Rainer streetcar: Goes from University Wy and 50th st to Mt Baker KINK via Eastlake, E 10th Ave, Broadway, and Rainer Ave.

-Magnolia/ Mt Baker streetcar: Goes from Discovery Park to MT Baker LINK via Vermont Wy W, Magnolia Bridge, Elliot av W, Mercer St, 1st Ave, Jackson st, S 31st Ave, and S McClellan st.

-Waterfront streetcar: Goes from 1st Ave/Mercer to International District LINK via 1st Ave, Broad st, Alaskan wy, Jackson st.

-D.T. Tacoma Streetcar: Goes from Emerald queen Casino to Tacoma community college via E Portland Ave, Puyallup Ave, Pacific Ave, Stadium Wy, Division Ave, N I St, N 21st St, Union Ave, and S 19th st.
The streetcar lines combine for about 50,000 riders daily, and there are several plans for new lines to Madison Park, Northgate, West Seattle, Queen Anne, and along 3rd ave in D.T. Seattle.

Electric Trolley Buses: Seattle is currently electrifying bus line that runs within it's borders that isn't an express or Rapid route, several other King County municipalities are co-operating with Seattle in expanding the Trolley bus network (Among them Renton, Tukwila, Burien, Des Moines, Normandy Park, Shorline, Kenmore, Bothell,and Woodinville, plus several unincororated areas) The Eastside cities of Bellevue, Houghton, Redmond, and Issquah, The Snohomish County cities of Edmonds, Lynwood, Mountlake Terrace, Brier, and The Pierce County cities of Tacoma and Lakewood, in addition to several other unincorporated areas neighboring these cities are also developing trolley bus networks of their own, though they are nowhere near as far along as the Seattle network is.

Bus Rapid Transit: Seattle has developed a frequent and fast network of routes known as Rapid Ride that provide service at frequencies better than 10 minutes most of the day, and also have 24-hour service on their corridors the Lines are as follows:

A-International: From S154th St LINK to D.T. Tacoma/11th St via International Blvd, Pacific Hwy,Eells St, Puyallup Ave Pacific Ave.

B-NE 8th/NE 148th: From Bellevue TC to Renton TC via NE8th St, NE 156th Ave, NE 24th St, NE 148th Ave, and Redmond Wy.

C-Delridge/NW 24th: From Blue Ridge to Renton TC via NW 24th Ave, Elliot Ave W, Mercer St, 1st Ave, Broad St, 3rd Ave, S 4th Ave, S Royal Brougham Wy, S 1st Ave, West Seattle Bridge, SW Delridge Wy, SW 16th Ave, Ambaum Blvd, SW 148th St, 4th Ave S, SW 156th St, Southcenter Blvd, SW Grady Wy Rainer Ave S, and D.T. Renton.

D-Aurora/Evergreen: From D.T. Everett to Northgate LINK via Pacific Ave, Evergreen Wy, Pacific Hwy, Aurora Ave, and Northgate Wy.

E-Sounder East Shadow: Provides service parallel to Sounder East between Tukwila and Woodinville.

F-Lake City: Provides Service From the University of Washington to Woodinville TC via 25th Ave NE, Lake City wy, Bothell wy, and NE Woodinville Dr.

G-NW 85th/E 23rd: Provides service from Golden Gardens Park to Mt Baker LINK via NW 85th St, Roosevelt Wy NE, NE Pacific St, E 23rd Ave and Rainer Ave.

H-Issaquah: Provides service between D.T. Seattle and Issaquah via I-90

I-Greenwood/Edmonds: Provides service between D.T. Seattle and Edmonds via I-5 Greenwood Ave, Richmond Beach Rd and Woodway Park Rd.

J-Sounder South Shadow: Provides service between Tukwila Sounder and Puyallup Sounder.

K-Mill Creek: Provides service from D.T. Edmonds to McCollum Park and Ride via Edmonds Community College, D.T. Lynwood, Lynwood TC, Alderwood Mall, Ash Way Park and Ride, Mill Creek, Silver Firs, and Hwy 96.

L-Tacoma: Provides service from Puyallup sounder to Gig Harbor Via Hwy 167, D.T. Tacoma, N 21st St, S Union Ave, S 19th St, S Jackson St and Hwy 16.

M-Olympia: Provides service from D.T. Federal Wy to D.T. Olympia via I-5.
These BRT lines are BRT lines in the style of Los Angeles's BRT lines, in other words, no lane of it's own, but there's signal pre-emption, off-vehicle ticket machines to purchase fares, large bi-articulated low-floor vehicles with all door boarding, real-time info on when the next bus will arrive (though that's on non-BRT lines as well by now, but they got it first), and larger more station like stops than regular bus stops.

Monorail: I decided to save the best for last here, the Green doesn't end up falling apart like it did OTL because the Federal Transit Administration was literally giving free money away to any half-decent project. This line carries about 45,000 passengers a day. Stations on this line are as follows (north to south):

-NW 85th St
-NW 65th St
-NW Market St
-W Dravus St
-W Galer St
-N Warren Ave
-Harrison St
-Denny Wy
-Lenora St
-Pike St
-Madison St
-Yesler Wy
-S King St
-S Royal Brougham Way
-S Lander St
-SW Delridge
-SW Avalon
-Alaska Junction
-Morgan Junction
The Monorail was approved for construction in 2006, with the whole line opening in April 2011.

Roads: So far tolls have been implemented on the Hwy 520 and I-90 bridges, the Alaska Way Viaduct has been torn down, congestion pricing has been implemented in D.T. Seattle, and a cap on I-5 is being expanded.

That is all for now. I might do Los Angeles next, but not for a few days as it took me 6 hours to write this post.

 

[TheMann]

FDW, As a former resident of Seattle who was often driven mad by the city's traffic congestion, that sir, is to me an absolutely epic win. Is it possible to build that level of system by 2015, with plans starting in 2003?

 

[FDW]

FDW, As a former resident of Seattle who was often driven mad by the city's traffic congestion, that sir, is to me an absolutely epic win. Is it possible to build that level of system by 2015, with plans starting in 2003?

Yes, Central Link had entered the planning process around 1997 OTL, and Central started construction in November 2003 OTL. ITTL the fuel crisis will cause Central Link get approval to start construction six months earlier than OTL, a further six months is shaved off the project with greater pressure to get the line open, that's where our opening date of June 2008 comes from, the initial section ITTL includes two stations that were deferred OTL (Graham and Boeing Access Rd), because the two infill stations were getting built ITTL I kept the opening of the Sea Tac Intl Airport station to six months after the opening of the first segment. As for the segment north of the Downtown, that's due to open in 2016 OTL, I accelerated the opening of Line by 4 years, and shaved two years off of construction adding two more TBM's to the project (up from two OTL), I kept First Hill and Volunteer Park despite their cost (again the Feds are giving out free money to transit projects here, so local matching funds don't matter) and the difficult soils of the Seattle Area. The S 200th segment was included in the original Central Link plan, so I kept that as something to open between the Sea Tac and University of Washington segments. The Northgate segment is scheduled to open in 2020 OTL, so this represents a six-year acceleration of the project, it starts as soon as the two TBMs aimed at Westlake emerge, they're trucked up to Northgate on a trip back south to meet the North going TBM's launched at Capitol Hill.

The Monorail project was cancelled OTL, again here the free money plays a role in saving a project it's starts construction in 2007 and construction takes about 3 1/2 years for the project.

The streetcar system was proposed around 2005ish OTL the South Lake Union Streetcar opened in 2007 OTL and the First Hill streetcar is due to open in 2012 OTL, so I figured that given all the Federal dollars flying around, Seattle would have enough money to fund and build these lines (And streetcar lines don't take as long as Light rail to open, for example the Portland streetcar was built in just 18 months back in 2000), as for the Tacoma streetcar, that opened in August 2003 OTL (and presumably ITTL as well), again the gas crisis causes the Tacoma city council and Sound Transit to decide to good ahead and expand the line earlier than OTL using spare funds.

The BRT system, like the streetcar system is largely funded Locally. Rapid ride actually exists OTL as does Line A of the Rapid Ride system, Line B of the Rapid Ride system in due to open in February 2011 OTL, and the Snohomish County segment of my D-Line is already open as Swift. The main difference ITTL is that Rapidride system is run by Sound Transit, another big difference is that many of these Rapid Ride Lines are converted and consolidated express bus lines, as the Seattle area agencies were forced to consolidate a lot of their rush hour express and radial service in order to save money.

The expanded Sounder services come from Sound Transit buying more slots off of BNSF on the Sounder corridor, a plan to convert to EMU's has been announced by 2015 ITTL but it hasn't actually been undertaken. Sounder East comes from the Eastside BNSF corridor that abandoned a few years ago OTL, here Sound Transit decides to go with lighter DMU's for the Eastside corridor so they don't have to put as much money into repairing the line and offer more serivce.

In Seattle lines 8, 9, 11, 15, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 34, 39, 46, 51, 54, 55, 56, 60, 65, 67, 68, 72, 73, 75, 106, 107, 120, 124, 128, 131, 132, 133, 134, 140, 331, 346, 347, 358, 372 and 373 have been electrified by 2015, with more planned.

There's also a large bikeshare system in the Seattle Metro area with over 5,000 bikes.

 

[New Potomac]

What effects does that all have on the air industry?

Obvious the high price of oil (higher than even 2007-2008 prices...) would be very devastating to the air industry, especially on the heels of 9/11. Thus, you would probably see even more airlines go into bankruptcy, if not outright liquidate. This could also lead to mergers that we wouldn't normally see until 2009-2010, such as United-Continental or Northwest-Delta.

 

[TheMann]

What effects does that all have on the air industry?

Obvious the high price of oil (higher than even 2007-2008 prices...) would be very devastating to the air industry, especially on the heels of 9/11. Thus, you would probably see even more airlines go into bankruptcy, if not outright liquidate. This could also lead to mergers that we wouldn't normally see until 2009-2010, such as United-Continental or Northwest-Delta.

You're pretty much bang on with regards to this. There will be five remaining major airlines by 2010 - Pan Am (combined Continental-United), American, US Airways, Delta and Southwest. There are a number of smaller ones, though, either large regionals like Air Alaska or Hawaiian Airlines or low-coast carriers like JetBlue and Spirit. The low-cost carriers and connecting airlines take a beating and air traffic overall sinks substantially.

 

[FDW]

A few more quibbles about Seattle 2015:

-The 40 routes that I said were electrified by 2015 don't all exist in this ITTL, the 2003 gas crisis forced Seattle to merge a lot of it's services, and move from the heavily radial network that it has OTL to a much more of a modified grid system like San Francisco. A lot of the routes I listed follow common corridors with other routes, so the routes likely to disappear would be as follows:

-3/4: merged, with Line 3's eastern terminal in Madrona and Line 4's Western terminal in Queen Anne.

-5: Replaced with Phinney streetcar, Rapid ride I.

-7: replaced with 9, 11, 34, 36, Broadway streetcar.

-10: Merged with 60, replaces Line 23 in West Seattle.

-11: Merged with 54.

-12/13/17: Merged into single line, 17 segment along Westlake replaced with Ballard, Phinney streetcars.

-19: replaced with Magnolia/Mt Baker streetcar.

-21: Merged with Northern part of Line 14

-22: absorbs line 133 to burien, line 123 in burien.

-23: Merged with line 124

-25: Merged with Line 27

-39: Merged with line 28, southern part replaced with line 34.

-41: Merged with line 67

-42: Replaced with LINK

-43: Replaced with LINK, Line 8

-55: Merged with line 1

-70/71: Replaced with Wedgewood streetcar. (Wedgewood streetcar also replaces 72,73 south of University of Washington)

-74: Replaced with LINK, Line 30, Line 75

-77/79: Replaced with other routes.

-120: merged with line 18.

-121/122: Replaced with Lines 131/132

-123/133: replaced with line 22

-346: merged with line 16.

-347: merged with line 67.

-348: merged with line 73.

-372: merged with line 72.

In terms of Current planned expansion for LINK, the extension to Federal way south on Hwy 99 is due to open in 2016, the extension to Bellevue and Redmond will open in 2018, the Extension to Lynwood will open in 2019, and the extension to Tacoma will open in 2020. The Monorail is constructing two extensions: one to the White Center (due to open in 2017) and one to Northgate (due to open in 2018). Sounder is currently in negotiations with BNSF to add 14 weekday round trips to Sounder South, and 18 weekday round trips to Sounder North, now that significant signaling upgrades and track expansion is nearing completion, and there's talk of upgrading Sounder East to allow for an addition 20 trains a day on that line. The Eastside ETB network is due to open in 2017 (with lines 222, 230, 233, 234, 240, 245, and 249 as it's first routes.). And that's all I got for now.

 

[Workable Goblin]

You're pretty much bang on with regards to this. There will be five remaining major airlines by 2010 - Pan Am (combined Continental-United), American, US Airways, Delta and Southwest. There are a number of smaller ones, though, either large regionals like Air Alaska or Hawaiian Airlines or low-coast carriers like JetBlue and Spirit. The low-cost carriers and connecting airlines take a beating and air traffic overall sinks substantially.

I thought the Pan Am brand name was owned by some company in New England that didn't want to give it up. Not that I object to reviving the brand, of course.

 

[TheMann]

"If 2003 was taking stock of the problems and short-term pain relief, then 2004 was spent starting to figure out how we fix the problems. Even that fairly straightforward task wasn't as easy as it sounds, as there was only so much that could be done in a short time period, and politics made sure that people with different views got to shout them out - even those who benefited from the old status quo got to have their say, though the images of Houston had made sure that the oilmen were not going to be able to dominate the debate. Green Energy was on its way - whether the old system's beneficiaries and supporters liked it or not."

-- The Future is Green by Adrian Jackson, written 2044

2004 opened with a upswing in the War in Afghanistan, but most of the attention of the nation was focused on the many problems related to energy. These first started showing up in the forms of numerous regional and state governments approving plans for transit expansions. Many cities already had such plans underway, but these plans grew dramatically after the disaster in Houston and the awesomely-high gas prices in 2003.

One of the first big events of 2004 in the energy field began with a proposal by the Tennessee Valley Authority to finish its long-mothballed Bellefonte Nuclear Generating Station and the mostly-completed Unit 2 at Watts Bar Nuclear Generating Station, with the applications to do filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on February 10, 2004. Needless to say, many eyebrows were raised at this - Davis-Besse had only been two years before, and many people were still very riled up over what had happened at the Ohio power plant. The TVA got around this by pointing out that since a 1975 fire at Browns Ferry, the TVA's three power plants had a flawless safety record. To assuage concerns over the power plants, the TVA hired Babcock and Wilcox and Bechtel to figure out how to improve the power plants so that safety accidents were near-impossible, and stating that they would not begin the completion of the units without knowing exactly how to make sure what happened at Davis-Besse is "impossible" to happen at any TVA facility.

"It's obvious that the future of our country has to be done with more consideration towards the environment and energy efficiency, combining the reduction of pollution while still providing ample electricity for the needs of Americans. Nuclear energy can be part of that, and we at the TVA feel that completing the facilities at Bellefonte and Watts Bar can help us do that. At the same time, we will not allow what happened at Davis-Besse to happen at any of our facilities. If that makes the facilities more expensive to build, so be it. And beyond that, if spending $200 million on a safer facility saves us billions in costs in the future, from an engineering point of view that is money well spent."

-- Tom Kilgore, Director of Power Operations, Tennessee Valley Authority, to CNN's Anderson Cooper, February 20, 2004

As if the TVA's decision wasn't stunning enough, the political debate inside the Democratic Party was also in favor of nuclear energy, and even more shockingly, some environmental advocates were even advocating the usage of nuclear energy as a way of combating global warming.

The Democratic Primaries for the 2004 Presidential Nomination were out in force. Senator John Kerry had started off with a big lead, but early in the year started to lose it. Edwards' campaign was hammered early on by revelations of infidelity on his part (which would get far worse later on in life) But Governor Howard Dean, Senator Paul Wellstone, General Wesley Clark and Majority Leader Dick Gephardt quickly ate into his lead. The action was watched intently by American political observers, with people pointing out that President Bush may well face a challenging re-election fight. As expected, energy concerns and their connection to the economy was a major part of it. The decision of the Democrats to support gas tax hikes hadn't proved to be as incendiary as some had expected it to be. Super Tuesday went all over the place - Of the 12 primaries, Dean and Kerry won four apiece, Wellstone took two and one each went to Clark and Gephardt.

In a speech in Detroit on March 6, Governor Dean threw down a bombshell. He proposed that he would set up a series of government-owned privately-managed firms, similar to the TVA, across the country to enact a major overhaul of rebuilding the US' infrastructure and energy systems, while promising to use these programs to provide a major boost to the US manufacturing industries, and also adding that he would take all American nuclear power stations under Federal Ownership. Dean justified this by pointing out that the US Navy had built over 160 nuclear-powered vessels and had operated them for decades without a single operational accident, and that the operation of the nuclear reactors would be assigned to another government-owned private company, which he tentatively named the American Nuclear Generating Corporation.

Dean's comments landed him in much hot water, with Senator Kerry calling the idea "a blueprint of fiscal irresponsibility." But the ideas caught on substantially. The idea of the government taking over operation of nuclear power plants was one which after Davis-Besse had a wide appeal. Dean's announcement sealed up the primaries in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio for him.

"Nuclear Energy is a powerful force, and if America wants to wean itself off of fossil fuels and provide plentiful energy for long into the future, we will need to have nuclear power as part of that mix. But while Davis-Besse and Three Mile Island are merely the worst accidents in the history of American nuclear power, they are sadly not the only ones. In many cases, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission called out cost-cutting efforts and corporate cultures in incidents involving nuclear power plants. We do not trust our safety to private police or military forces or border guards, and we shouldn't be doing so here. Davis-Besse should have proved that fact once and for all."

-- Governor Howard Dean (D-VT), on NBC's Meet The Press, March 14, 2004

On March 10, Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN) and Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY) proposed a bill that would provide a fund of some $285 Billion to the United States Department of Transportation, in order to fund a major overhaul of American mass transit and infrastructure projects. It passed the House easily, but it took a handful of Republican votes, most notably Senators Susan Collins (R-NY), Lincoln Chafee (R-CT) and George Voinovich (R-OH) to pass the Senate. Threats of a veto by Bush proved to be for not, as it was clear by the end of March that his veto would almost certainly be overturned by Congress. This fund was first distributed to Houston, to the surprise of no one, and to cities with plans already on the drawing board, or in the case of several cities including New York, Seattle, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago and Denver, were already building. A massive earmark for a bridge across the Long Island Sound was tossed in order to get the support of Senator Chafee, but it was supported by several others because it made sense. The planned bridge from East Haven, CT to Shoreham, NY, began building in the spring of 2005, and was opened to traffic on July 4, 2010.

The Long Island Sound Bridge

The Democratic Nomination Came down to the convention, as Howard Dean and John Kerry slugged it out for the nomination. By now, the only other competitors still in it were Congressmen Gephardt and Kucinich. The latter hadn't backed out, despite comments by Wellstone that he should for the better of the party. But coming into the Convention, Dean had a lead, and despite Kerry's best attempts, Howard Dean was made the nominee. The most notable aspect was a rousing speech made by Illinois State Senator Barack Obama, which drew a very good response from the crowd.

"We worship an awesome God in the blue states, we don't like federal agents poking around in our librairies in the red states. We coach Little League in the blue states, and yes, we do have gay friends in the red states. We all want a better America for our children, and a person who thinks that way can call themselves a patriot, regardless of whether we agree with them or not. The most important thing we all share is the audacity of hope, which is the greatest gift God can give us. If we didn't believe that the right policies could help us, we wouldn't have the country we have, and we cannot get the country we want."

-- Barack Obama, during the Democratic National Convention keynote address, July 27, 2004

As expected, Bush was chosen unopposed for his party's nomination for President, and he chose to keep Dick Cheney as his VP, a decision that would come back to haunt him. Perhaps worse than that, a car accident on July 25 claimed the life of Karl Rove, one of his critical campaign managers.

Having picked Gephardt to be his Vice-President, Governor Dean played a high-risk game in his campaign, running on his plans to rebuild American infrastructure, while also talking of his plans to improve Washington's service delivery, and chastising President Bush for the Patriot Act and his own connections to the oil industry, particular Cheney. Bush's attacks that Dean was not fiscally responsible were answered by pointing that Bush had turned a $165 Billion surplus into a $300 Billion deficit. Dean also commented that America's focus on fossil fuel energy was partially being pushed by Bush and the people in his campaign who were financially connected to the oil industry, to which Bush answered by saying that Dean had no concept of the fact that America needed cheap energy to be able to keep its current prosperity.

Dean also took an additional risk in saying that he would nominate several of his rivals to be members of his cabinet, including Wesley Clark to be his Secretary of Defense and Paul Wellstone as his Secretary of Labor. Senator Kerry didn't take his loss hard, either, and he actively campaigned for Governor Dean. Bush got lots of help from people in his party, as well.

But what did the trick more than anything was Dean's supporters. The team "Deaniac" had been used for many of the feverent supporters of his campaign, and that grassroots campaign went on to be a powerful force. Gephardt soundly beat Cheney in the Vice-Presidential Debate, and Dean was deemed on have easily won two of the three debates and eeked out the third. Losing the race by October, Bush's team went into full-blown attack ads in major fashion, which wound up doing more harm than good.

On November 2, the election was held, and it wasn't as close as many figure it would be. All of the states Gore won in 2000 went for Dean with the exception of New Mexico. Dean picked up New Hampshire, Ohio, Florida, North Carolina and Colorado, and finished the electoral vote count with 334 to President Bush's 204. Like his father, George W. Bush would go down as a one-term President.

"Our journey has ended, and while we have not gotten the result we all hoped for, I cannot say that we will not have a very intelligent and competent new President. I congratulate Governor Dean on his victory, and wish him the best of luck as our nation's 44th President."

-- President George W. Bush in Dallas, Texas, during his concession speech, 10:34 PM EST, November 2, 2004

"I thank all of the people who cast their ballot for me and double thank all of those who have made this victory possible. Destiny has called to us, and we have answered. Now, the real work begins, the work of improving the lives of all Americans, building a better nation and a greater one abroad. I will say it right now - we will be entering a new day in America. Let us begin."

-- Governor Howard Dean in New York, New York, during his victory speech, 11:12 PM EST, November 2, 2004

The Democrats, to the surprise of nobody, expanded their numbers in both houses further, with the House advantage growing to 238-196 and the Senate swelling to 52-47 in favor of the Democrats. Democrats, to a few surprises, chose Senator John Kerry to be the new Senate Majority Leader, while Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi kept her job as the Speaker of the House.

True to form, Dean's cabinet did include a large number of his primary rivals as critical officials - Wesley Clark was the new Secretary of Defense, Paul Wellstone got his coveted Secretary of Labor job, and a number of others got influential positions. Perhaps most surprising was the choice of Senator Hillary Clinton as the Secretary of State, though it proved to be a good choice. The choice of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Chu as the Secretary of Energy, a post expected to be a plum one, was also a surprise, but was justified as being a position that required a professional at the helm.

On his way out, President Bush pushed hard to get some legislation of his own passed - some of it stunning his supporters, such a major nationwide program to provide loans to retrofit buildings for better energy efficiency, a program similar to one he had spearheaded as Governor of Texas, and a massive, $4.7 Billion request for Texas to build the high-speed rail system that had been proposed in the early 1990s, which had been fought viciously by Southwest Airlines several smaller air carriers. Both programs had no trouble passing Congress or the Senate.

Among the results of the November 2004 election was the approval of a giant, $10 Billion bond for California to build a dedicated high-speed train connecting California's major cities. A similar bond passed in Florida, and construction on Florida's High-Speed Line between Tampa and Orlando began in March 2005. Mass transit funding proposals passed across the nation, and major planning began throughout 2005.

On November 20, 2004, American Electric Power announced that it would follow in the footsteps of FirstEnergy and enter into the wind power business, though AEP entered it in Wyoming, Colorado and the Dakotas, also making a contract with local transmission companies to provide the power to local areas, while using closer-to-home power plants to provide energy to areas closer to home. On December 5, Pacific Gas and Electric also jumped on the bandwagon, though they planned to build a number of offshore wind turbines, acknowledging that such a project would be a technical challenge due to the region's seismic activity.

It was clear by the end of 2004, that the new era was indeed beginning......

 

[TheMann]

I thought the Pan Am brand name was owned by some company in New England that didn't want to give it up. Not that I object to reviving the brand, of course.

Guilford Transportation Industries, a regional railroad company, bought the rights to the name and logos in 1998. I'm figuring that the company sells those rights to the combined Continental-United (neither of those airlines has a particularly good reputation) company.

 

[New Potomac]

Guilford Transportation Industries, a regional railroad company, bought the rights to the name and logos in 1998. I'm figuring that the company sells those rights to the combined Continental-United (neither of those airlines has a particularly good reputation) company.

I can't see either being very interested in using the Pan Am name, if anything they'll probably just go under a much re-branded 'United' name.

 

[Riain]

Good, keep it coming.
You need a production-touring car racing formula so Commodores and Falcons can smash all comers.

 

[TheMann]

Good, keep it coming.
You need a production-touring car racing formula so Commodores and Falcons can smash all comers.

I was thinking of that, but part of me was thinking of dragging my Indycar Racing TL into this world, because it would be ideal for that.