Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THREE
REFINERYVILLE
Tell folks that you're making a grand tour of polluted places, and they tend to get excited. A
surprising number of people say they want to come along, and, although this turns out to be
mostly talk, it's gratifying to know the market is there.
Most of all, people want to know about the list. How am I choosing my destinations?
Based on what? And they have suggestions. Everyone has a favorite: a city that struck them
as horrifically smoggy, a developing-world landfill they read about. Some make an easy leap
from Chernobyl to Bhopal, taking up the theme of industrial disaster. But that doesn't seem
quite right. And what if I want to check out a place that is the perfect embodiment of an en-
vironmental problem but that isn't particularly gross? Should I abandon it, just because I'm
worried it won't count as “most polluted”? The criteria flood in: kinds of pollution, areas of
the world, recreational possibilities…
“I'm trying to get a nice spread,” I tell them.
From Alberta, a powerful suction pulls south. And so they would like to build a pipeline.
Another pipeline, that is—longer and better than what's already there. Leaving Canada, it
