Nerditorial: Lake Whatcom Dreaming

I have a dream.

It's not a Martin Luther King category dream.

My dream is much less ambitious.

I dream of a day when big-ass construction equipment stops getting stuck in Lake Whatcom.

Dream with me, Whatcom County.


As you may already know, a crane recently kinda... sorta... fell into the lake.

July 30, 2010. Herald reports a crane falls into Lake Whatcom.

It came as no surprise to me that the comments made on the story included a those of the "don't get your panties in a bunch, ya tree-huggers" variety. Such as this gem...

Chill out people seriously! You would think you have never seen lake Whatcom, it's huge! A few gallons of stuff isn't going to do any harm, people get worked up over things that should be the exact opposite. We should be thankful that no one got hurt or killed. Good job to the Fire Dept. and the workers for containing the spill as much as possible. Life happens people... seriously, that's the problem with our society today, people are always looking for someone to blame and never stopping to count their blessings.

Well, I wore my bunching-resistant panties, so fear not.

I was just wondering if anyone remembered that this is actually the second time that a big-ass piece of construction equipment got stuck in Lake Whatcom?

February 20, 2010. Herald reports an excavator gets stuck in Lake Whatcom.

Now, I don't want to sound all alarmist or push the limit on the warranty on my certified non-bunching panties or anything, but two incidents each involving a piece of heavy construction equipment landing in Lake Whatcom strike me as something other than two isolated incidents.

And I am not persuaded by the argument that the built-in incentive of a business not wanting to get its heavy equipment stuck in a lake is sufficient to prevent such an incident from happening. Particularly in light of the fact that two such pieces of heavy equipment did in fact become stuck in Lake Whatcom this year alone. And the year ain't over.

So, to those he-man types who just want us candy-ass liberals to chill out and let the progress continue and stop ruining everything, I have a few questions.

If a third piece of heavy equipment (say a backhoe...) gets stuck in Lake Whatcom before 2011, am I still in need of chilling out? Would that count as a pattern or just a third isolated incident?

Is it unrealistic, and perhaps a bit selfish, for me to want zero cranes, excavators, backhoes, and whatnot to become lodged in Lake Whatcom?

Is it inappropriate for me to wonder out loud about the current safety standards that construction companies are held to when using heavy equipment on or near Lake Whatcom?

Is my desire to go to my elected officials and ask that they consider making those standards more strict some sort of liberal elitism on my part?

Am I anti-growth because I think that lakeside construction should be performed in a manner that prevents stuff like cranes and excavators from getting into the lake itself?

These aren't rhetorical questions. There is a comment section. Answer them.