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A big battery project being proposed for construction by a group of farming landholders and a local renewables developer has been waved through EPBC approvals.

The post Landholder-led 4-hour big battery gets federal environmental all-clear in just over four weeks appeared first on Renew Economy.

With no grown-ups in sight, a feckless war lurches and whipsaws on, run by a regime full of clowns, drunks, losers, grifters, all steadfastly defying the will of the people. Trump rants, Hegseth lies, Rubio punts, and shameless, "bad paranoid mess" Ka$h Patel, who actually likes to spell his name that way, is gifting bottles of personally branded bourbon - "KASH PATEL, FBI Director," boasting "strong notes of insecurity" - on all sides. Nothing to see here.

The dizzying pivots on Iran go on, with Dear Leader "paralyzed" by what he started and can't for the life of him figure out how to end. The military blockade of Iran's ports is "the greatest military maneuver in history"; also, if Iran doesn't give in to his demands, they will be "blown off the face of the earth." The "already legendary Epic Fury" is almost over, and the Hormuz Strait will be "OPEN TO ALL" if Iran just agrees to the 14-point US plan they dismiss as "a wish-list." One day, Project Freedom is "a gift to the world" that will get all 2,000 stranded ships through the Strait; the next day, with two ships through and Navy commanders resisting, he pulls the plug in the name of an almost-here "complete and final agreement" that doesn't exist. It turns out he veered away because the Saudis, angry and mistrustful, wouldn't let him use their bases or air space; NATO countries are also increasingly.barring the US from their bases. Iran's chief negotiator: "Operation Trust Me Bro failed.”

There’s more bad if unsurprising news: Pete and Donnie "lied through their teeth" about how the war's gone: Iranian airstrikes did far more damage to US military sites - hitting or destroying at least 228 hangars, barracks, fuel depots, aircraft, key radar, defense, communication systems - than they've acknowledged, and Iran's military might is far from "obliterated." The lies flew through, in part, because they “requested” that several large satellite imagery providers withhold images of the war to tightly control a bogus “winning” narrative. The result, critics say: “Not since Vietnam has there been a more systematic effort by an administration to lie about the costs, consequences, and results of a war.” Meanwhile, NATO is increasingly moving on without the US - who can blame them - and even Australia is pissed at the economic chaos: “Interest Rates Rise Because Some (Emotionally-Stunted) Fuckwit in America Wasn’t Hugged Enough As A Child."

Amidst the carnage, a “once-in-a-lifetime stupid“ Trump posts bonkers AI memes - Biden as ”COWARD," Obama as ”TRAITOR" - and proof the Iran war is shorter than Afghanistan: "Wow! Study this chart!“ His clowns flail. Todd Blanche wants SCOTUS to let the DOJ trash E. Jean Carroll's $83.3 million win. Howard Lutnick told the House his relationship with Epstein was "inexplicable.” Hegseth still inexplicably pursues Mark Kelly for obeying the law though multiple judges tell him to stop; Pete also posted a cringe video of "performative dipshittery wrapped in fictional jingoism," insisting a proposed $1.5 trillion military budget is “putting the American taxpayer first.” Also: "Arsenal for freedom" WTF? GOP tax cuts for the rich and slashing of Obamacare tax credits will see millions lose health care and food stamps, which they call cutting fraud: "Let them eat ballrooms." ICE promises, "Mass deportations are coming." America wants none of this shit.

They also likely don't want much of what Trump's FBI - which boasts, "Law and order is back," complete with vows to hunt down "bad guys" at the World Cup - is selling. Especially given its alleged director, fresh off drunken drunken revels celebrating with his hockey "friends" in Milan and reportedly, perennially panicking about being fired after a series of scandals, is now facing yet more bad press thanks toThe Atlantic's Sarah Fitzpatrick, who's been lauded as "a fearless badass" for staying on his sketchy trail. Her first story, on April 17, cited two dozen FBI sources "alarmed" by Patel's erratic behavior, "conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences" after nights of boozing. Patel responded with a sputtering, typo-riddled, $250-million lawsuit charging Fitzpatrick and The Atlantic with an elaborate, organized-crime-like conspiracy. The FBI also reportedly launched a criminal leak investigation, usually reserved for "insider threats" involving classified documents, into who told Fitzpatrick what.

This week, Fitzpatrick followed up with another boozy story: Patel travels with a stash of personalized, bespoke, presumably taxpayer-funded Ka$h Patel bourbon he regularly hands out wherever he goes, including on official FBI business. The bottles bear the label, “KASH PATEL FBI DIRECTOR” with the rendering of an FBI shield; around it, text reads, with his preferred spelling, Director Ka$h Patel. An eagle holds the shield in its talons; sometimes the 750-milliliter bottles bear Patel’s signature. They also bear the imprint of Kentucky distillery Woodford Reserve, who have helped out MAGA before. In 2025, they gifted bottles to attendees of the 2025 inauguration luncheon, part of the swag arranged by Mitch McConnell's team. They also created a commemorative "Trump Presidential Woodford Reserve Whiskey, part of their Spirited Gifts line. It's unclear to what extent they've been impacted by or spared from Trump's infamous tariffs.

Patel is already known to have "a great affection" for swag: "He is known as being very merch forward." The Ka$h-branded crap on his website - “Choose Freedom. Shop Based" - has included t-shirts, beanies, faux-camo Fight with Kash hoodies, Fight With Kash Punisher scarf, “Justice for All” #J6PC tees to support Jan, 6 rioters, “government gangsters” playing cards, tacky juvenile "Steel Wall Art," and his children's book The Plot Against the King, about a heroic wizard, Kash the Distinguished Discoverer, who helps "King Donald" uncover conspiracies and crush his enemies. Profits supposedly go to a non-profit Kash Patel Foundation that “supports whistleblowers, education, defamation cases, etc." Patel was also already a bourbon fan during Trump's first term; he reportedly kept a barrel of bourbon at the National Security Council which was regularly brought out to celebrate successes.

In her account, Fitzpatrick lists places and occasions, including FBI events, where Patel has given out bottles of his bourbon. She reports that, when a bottle went missing during a March FBI "training seminar" with Ultimate Fighting Championship athletes in Quantico, Virginia, the incident caused Patel to "lose his mind"; he was so angry he threatened to make his staff take polygraph tests and face prosecution if they were found to have been involved. The FBI did not deny Patel gives out the whiskey; they defended the gifts as "routine" within the FBI, where Bureau officials "exchange commemorative items in formal gift settings consistent with ethics rules." A spokesperson "declined to clarify which ethical rules he is following, or which past directors also did it. When Fitzpatrick asked a former longtime senior official if he'd ever seen personally branded booze gifted, "He burst out laughing."

Several current and former FBI leaders said the action was "unheard-of," noting, "The FBI has traditionally had a zero-tolerance approach to unauthorized use of alcohol on the job or its misuse off duty.” Said one, "Handing out bottles of liquor at our premier law-enforcement agency - it makes me frightened for the country." Others called it "weird," "uncomfortable," "a "shitshow," "a misunderstanding of the Bureau's culture of quiet professionalism," “demoralizing because it suggests one set of standards for the director and another for the rest of the Bureau." Then again, said one, "If you make allegations against Patel, you're screwed." "The Kash Patel bourbon has strong notes of insecurity, narcissism, incompetence and alcohol-fueled national security risk,” wrote Dem lawmakers online. "Pairs well with taxpayer-funded getaways and the occasional SWAT-assisted wake-up call.”

"I knew one day I'd have to watch powerful men burn the world down. I just didn't expect them to be such losers." - Rebecca Shaw in The Guardian

Ka$h Patel, FBI Director and MoonshinerPhoto from The Atlantic

Fortescue's green grid rides through bushfire-caused transmission failure with just solar and batteries and no spinning machines - defying conventional thinking.

The post “I thought this was impossible:” Fortescue green grid rides through transmission failure with no fossil fuels appeared first on Renew Economy.

Listed fund hopes to press go on its first big wind and storage projects soon, with an extension to the Victoria Big Battery likely first to go.

The post Fund nears financial close for wind and storage projects, with Victoria Big Battery extension first to go appeared first on Renew Economy.

This June, residents of Marin and Sonoma Counties face a choice: keep the SMART train running, or watch one of the region’s most important climate investments unravel. 

The Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) train carries over 4,000 riders each weekday, offering a proven alternative to car travel that eases Highway 101 congestion and cuts greenhouse gas emissions. But without renewed funding, SMART cannot sustain current operations, let alone grow.

That’s why Measure B — a continuation of the existing quarter-cent sales tax for SMART train service and the adjacent multi-use pathway — will appear on the June ballot in Marin and Sonoma counties. Measure B doesn’t create a new tax. It keeps your existing investments alive — securing the next 30 years of service.

Greenbelt Alliance proudly endorses Measure B and encourages voters across Marin and Sonoma counties to vote YES on the June ballot.

Why It Matters

SMART is more than a train. Every trip taken on SMART means fewer cars on the road, less pollution in the air, and a cleaner commute for thousands of North Bay residents. For an environmentally motivated community, Marin and Sonoma’s housing and transportation systems still depend heavily on single-occupancy vehicles. This measure represents a needed investment in public transportation. 

Without Measure B, SMART will not be able to maintain today’s service levels. That means fewer trains, fewer riders, and more cars on 101. It means an incomplete pathway system. And it means abandoning an investment that voters in Marin and Sonoma counties have already made in their shared future.

Protecting and Growing a Regional Investment

Over the past decade, SMART has extended its reach across the North Bay, and the 24 mile pathway running alongside the tracks has become a beloved active transportation corridor for cyclists and pedestrians alike. Measure B protects that progress and opens the door to more: expanded service hours, greater geographic reach, and a pathway system that’s finally complete.

A YES vote on Measure B directly funds:

• Continued daily SMART train service connecting Sonoma and Marin counties
• A reliable, low-emissions alternative to Highway 101
• Expansion of service hours and geographic reach across the North Bay
• Completion and maintenance of the SMART pathway for cyclists and pedestrians
• Reduced greenhouse gas emissions from the region’s transportation sector. People who ride SMART reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 33% compared to completing the same trip in a car.

A Smart Investment in Our Shared Future

At Greenbelt Alliance, we believe that resilient communities require both healthy lands and healthy transportation systems — the kind that give people real alternatives to driving, reduce emissions, and keep our region connected even as climate pressures intensify.

The quarter-cent sales tax that funds SMART is already in place. Measure B simply continues it. The cost of not renewing this funding — degraded service, stranded riders, and backsliding on our climate commitments — is far greater than the cost of saying yes.

Thirty years from now, the North Bay can be a place where hopping on a train is as natural as getting in a car – where our transportation choices match our values. That future starts this June. Vote YES on Measure B.

The post Vote Yes on Measure B: Keep SMART Moving for the Next 30 Years appeared first on Greenbelt Alliance.

Opposition plan to review state transmission roadmap and pause major network upgrades has been called out as "wedge" politics and could lead to blackouts, state energy minister warns.

The post “Definitely not good policy:” Experts skewer LNP plan to pause major transmission upgrades appeared first on Renew Economy.

A new species of wasp has been named after Sir David Attenborough as the naturalist celebrates his 100th birthday.

The post “Completely overwhelmed” Attenborough feted on 100th birthday, new wasp species named after him appeared first on Renew Economy.

Clean Energy Finance Corporation will underwrite a transmission project crucial to the connection of Marinus Link, in a move it says will slash costs to consumers.

The post Federal green bank backs contentious state transmission project, to “significantly lower costs to consumers” appeared first on Renew Economy.

What does a protected bike lane have in common with a hot glue gun, a lawn mower and a refrigerator?

That’s not the set-up to a bad joke — it’s a powerful lesson in safe systems.

For this week’s Friday Video, we check in on one of our favorite TikTokers Jon Jon Wesolowski — aka “The Happy Urbanist” — who just posted an explainer on “forcing functions,” or design features that force better behavior and prevent bad things from happening.

And whether that’s an automatic kill switch on a household appliance or a barrier that separates a driver from cyclist, these features should be a no-brainer — if we can stop playing the blame game and start getting to the root causes of why people get hurt.

Check it out:

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Injury rates for e-bike and scooter users are plummeting in Europe even as the use of those devices has exploded since 2021, according to a new study that debunks the myth that roadways are getting less safe as a result of the micromobility boom.

Between 2024 and 2025, total bike and scooter mileage of the four mobility companies in the report grew by 14 percent, while the risk of injury declined by a little more than 1 percent. Bike safety seems even greater: e-bike trips increased by 72 percent in the same period yet injuries per million trips fell by around 18 percent compared to 2024.

The data was analyzed by Micro-Mobility for Europe, an industry group comprising the European operations of Bolt, Dott, Lime and Voi. The 2025 data is based on more than 353 million shared e-scooter trips and 136 million shared e-bike rides in the 27 European Union member states, plus Norway, Switzerland, the UK and Israel.

The companies collaborated to form Micro-Mobility for Europe to push back on the notion that e-bikes and scooters are a threat to safety. Its mission calls for joint effort to “develop a framework that ensures micro-mobility solutions flourish in cities in full respect of all road users and to revolutionize urban transportation toward a shared, electric, and carbon-free future.”

One expert said the preliminary findings show that micromobility only gets safer as the devices reach broader use.

“This indicates that with technological advancements, responsible operation, and better urban infrastructure, safety can be boosted even as micromobility network expands,” said George Yannis, a professor at National Technical University of Athens, which is working with the coalition to further study safety outcomes. “Continued monitoring and increased availability of micromobility data as well as evidence-based policies by both the [companies] and [local officials] will be essential to sustain this positive trend and further support Europe’s Vision Zero ambition of reducing road fatalities.”

And in the long term, risks continue to trend downward even as use continues to grow. Between 2021 and 2025, the injury risk per million km for shared e-scooters decreased by around 20 percent. And for bikes, overall injuries per million kilometers fell by almost 6 percent between 2024 and 2025, even as the number of trips increased by around 72 percent in 2025, evidence that the sector is getting safer as it scales.

The short report attributes the decrease in injury risk to an increase in safety features, like speed caps, on devices, geofencing in busy pedestrian areas, and regular maintenance of bikes and scooters.

“A 24-percent reduction in the risk of shared e-scooter injuries per million trips since 2021 shows that safer vehicle technology, rider education, sensibilisation [sic] measures by operators and continued investments in infrastructure are delivering measurable results,” said Micro-Mobility for Europe Co-Chair Marc Naether, who is also head of public policy at Bolt.

• During President Trump’s first term, the administration dragged its feet on distributing transit funds approved by Congress. The problem has gotten worse in his second term the U.S. DOT has not funded a transit project in more than a year, using new strategies to stonewall projects as the U.S. falls further and further behind the rest of the world. (Transportation for America)
• Not including children, at least 30 percent of Americans are non-drivers, according to a study out of Washington state. By far their biggest barrier to travel is a lack of fixed-route transit service. (Cities)
• An Atlanta City Council member wants to put a bike lane on the crowded Beltline to reduce conflicts between cyclists and scooters on one hand, and walkers and joggers on the other. (Atlanta News First)
• Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill making it illegal to block a bike lane. (Denver Gazette)
• The Pittsburgh Department of Mobility and Infrastructure is asking residents to fill out a survey about street safety. (Pittsburgh Magazine)
• Detroit is spending $8 million to repair 5,400 sidewalks. (Free Press)
• Cincinnati bikeshare Red Bike is now integrated into the city’s transit app. (CityBeat)
• Amtrak canceled a controversial third vent to save money on a West Baltimore rail tunnel. (Banner)
• Charlotte is planning on expanding its regional light rail system, but doesn’t have enough skilled construction workers to build all the projects. (Observer)
• Northwest Arkansas is planning its regional growth around the 40-mile Razorback Greenway. (CNU Public Square)
• The Kansas City streetcar turned 10 years old on Wednesday. (Axios)
• Observer names seven scenic Amtrak trips that are worth taking the time.

Smart Energy Council's John Grimes on the death of coal power in Australia, panel by panel, home battery by home battery. He joins to discuss what's next. Plus: Twiggy's green grid, W.A.'s renewables rush, and other news.

The post Energy Insiders Podcast: The man who saved solar and helped kill coal appeared first on Renew Economy.

Early this spring, a sweet song rang out like a question, filling the air at the Audubon Center at Debs Park early this spring: “Cheedle-cheedle-chee? Cheedle-cheedle-chew!” This fleeting moment...

Every day, Audubon Southwest staff is working hard to bring people outside to inspire conservation action through volunteer and education opportunities. For us, every day is earth day!  In April...

Metro’s new D Line subway extension will open tomorrow. The transit riding public can get on “the D” starting at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, May 8. The entire Metro rail/bus/bike-share system is free from Friday through Sunday. Read more about tomorrow’s opening celebrations.

The $3.5 billion four-mile D Line Extension Section 1 will travel from Wilshire/Western in L.A.’s Koreatown all the way to La Cienega/Wilshire in the city of Beverly Hills. The project includes three new stations: Wilshire/La Brea, Wilshire/Fairfax, and Wilshire/La Cienega.

The 4-mile D Line extension (mapped in purple) runs below Wilshire Boulevard with stations at La Cienega, Fairfax, and La Brea Map of Metro B and D Line heavy rail subway – from Metro timetable. The B and D Lines form a Y; they share tracks in downtown and MacArthur Park, and split up at Wilshire/Vermont in Koreatown

When Metro broke ground on what was then called the “Westside Purple Line” at a ceremony at the L.A. County Art Museum, section 1 was expected to be completed in 2023. Among several obstacles causing delays, Metro encountered and overcame challenging tunneling conditions.

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Streetsblog has been covering the progress of the D Line for more than a decade. Below are a couple of D Line facts that you may or may not already know.

It will be fast

In L.A. County, most rail trips are not faster than driving. Metro buses and light and heavy rail move fairly fast. Every day, transit gets a million Angelenos where they need to be. There are exceptions, but when comparing trip times today, driving is almost always faster than transit.

Detail of Metro D Line timetable – click to enlarge

There are great reasons to take Metro transit – driving stress, parking, gas prices, health, environment – but comparative travel time typically is not where Metro comes out ahead.

The D Line is different.

Metro has already posted the new timetable for the D Line and it’s so fast it seems almost unimaginable for Angelenos.

Riding the D Line from the L.A. County Museum of Art (LACMA) to City Hall will take just 15 minutes. The nine-mile trip from one end of the D to the other – from La Cienega to Union Station – will take just 23 minutes.

At less congested times of day, those same trips might run 30-40 minutes in a car. At rush hour, you’d probably want to budget an hour to be safe.

There are lots of factors that influence overall trip time for various modes – e.g. congestion, parking, reliability, transit frequency, first/last mile walk/bike facilities, etc.

The D Line is remarkably fast; for many trips, fast enough to compete favorably with driving.

It will improve the lives of transit riders

If you read comments sections, you will find some people complaining that there’s no point in providing a subway to Beverly Hills, because rich people live there and rich people won’t ride transit. The residents of Beverly Hills, which long ago (meaning until ~2018) bitterly fought the D Line, likely do ride transit less often than folks living in less tony areas.

True as that may be, Beverly Hills is also destination. For workers who often struggle with expensive and/or time-consuming commutes. For visitors who want to have the full experience of Los Angeles. And for other Angelenos who might otherwise not be able to access a community that has made a point of making itself less accessible – including by opposing effective transit, and by targeting of Black and Latino drivers and pedestrians.

A lot of people who are not wealthy enough to live in Beverly Hills work there: domestic workers, restaurant workers, janitors, teachers, etc.

Even if wealthy folks in Beverly Hills ride infrequently, plenty of working class folks already take transit to commute to their Beverly Hills jobs. Even if the D Line never attracts a new rider, when it cuts a 40-60 minute bus commute down to 20-30 minutes, it will give workers more time to spend with their loved ones. It will get transit riders more places more punctually and more reliably. It will improve transit rider access to more places – more jobs and other destinations.

It’s in the right place

Wilshire Boulevard is one of the best places to improve Southern California transit – because of its existing concentration of population and jobs. Author/scholar Ethan Elkind notes (including in D Line coverage at the L.A. Times today) that Wilshire is the most densely populated corridor west of the Mississippi River.

Transit agencies often get political pressure to invest in high quality transit that serves less dense parts of the region. No Metro rail line is empty, but some Metro rail has been built in relatively low population density areas, where it struggles to attract large numbers of riders. Transit riders are already plentiful on Wilshire, which sees 30,000+ weekday daily boardings on Metro 20 and 720 buses.

The D Line is Metro is greatly improving service exactly where it is most needed.

Even more D Line Subway in the near future

This week’s opening is the first of three new D Line segments, all under construction and expected to be open by 2028.

Metro map of three-section nine-mile Metro D Line extension project

Very soon, the D Line will extend about 14 miles – from Westwood to Union Station. Take a peek at the next section’s new stations nearing completion.

Read more more about the D at Metro’s The Source, LAist, L.A. Times, and the Beverly Press.

SBLA will be putting the D Line to the test later this month. On May 19, Streetsblog will host a commuter race: the D Line Dash. The event pits three racers – a transit rider, a cyclist, and a driver – getting from Beverly Hills to Downtown Los Angeles.

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Tune in to Streetsblog, especially SBLA social media, to follow the great race! Contact Streetsblog if you’re interested in sponsoring and/or volunteering.

This post is sponsored by Find The Right Bike.

While Find The Right Bike paid the freelancer’s fee for this article, I was confident this was a topic that would interest Streetsblog Chicago readers. I appreciate the support, as well as FTRB’s new weekly ad on this site. We’ve still got about $17K to raise to meet our 2026 budget goal. If you haven’t already, please consider making a tax-deductible donation here. Thanks! – John Greenfield, editor

In 2024, Viktor Köves began a project of interviewing and photographing Chicagoans of all walks of life with their bicycles. His goal: demystify city riding for everyday needs and get more people on bikes. The Instagram and YouTube channel for Chicagoans Who Bike is filled with personal stories of families, children and elders from all corners of the city about why they ride and what they enjoy about it.

Now Köves has a new website to further nudge Chicagoans onto two wheels. Findtheright.bike uses a very short survey to recommend a style of bike according to the user’s needs, from e-cargo bikes to good old fashioned commuter bikes. The site includes brief guides on basic gear and maintenance, and links to product reviews. Find the Right Bike also makes a compelling case for the cost savings of bike versus car, all in Köves’ affable, encouraging tone. We spoke with Köves about the new tool and how things are going so far.

Screenshot from FTRB.

Sharon Hoyer: What gave you the idea for Find the Right Bike?

Viktor Köves: I’d been working on Chicagoans Who Bike for a while and I’m about to close out that project. I want to stop when I hit 100 interviews and I’m at about 92. I wanted to do more educational content about how to bike in the city. I keep hearing people say, “There’s no bike for me because I have kids or I need to haul things.” A lot of people don’t know what options they have. I wanted to distill the knowledge I have and the knowledge of the bike community into something really simple.

The other thing was integrating some financial data. One of the values of the site is showing people just how expensive cars are. I have two e-bikes – one that was about $4,000 and one that was about $6,000. When I tell people that they say, “That’s so expensive!” But I don’t own a car. One is my minivan; I haven’t needed to take a car-share for cargo since I bought that bike. If you’re interested in riding but know nothing, you can jump in my site and find something pretty reasonable. And before I show you models of bikes, I show price breakdown. 

I kept sharing the site with the bike community for feedback. I added the gear guide: Okay, you’re getting a bike but you don’t know about locks and helmets so I share links to the best resources for those. I added the basics on maintenance. The other thing was storage. Every time I talk about cargo bikes, people say it’s going to get stolen immediately. That’s not true, there are strategies to prevent that. I worked a lot with Bunch Bikes [electric cargo cycles], which has many articles about theft prevention.

Screenshot from FTRB.

The central idea is giving people a way of seeing that a bike can fit into their life and that it’s not a big expense, but a big money saver.

A lot of sites get into frame sizes. I don’t care. What are your life needs? And go from there.

SH: The tone of the site is that this is not for gear heads, that biking is really approachable. You don’t have to measure or research anything before you take a quiz about what bike is best for you and how to get started. How did you structure the quiz?

VK: I have a lot of bikes, so I have a decision-making process for which bike I take outside. It’s a privileged position; I have a lot of experience with it. And I’ve had a lot of conversations with other people where they walk me through their needs. What problem are you trying to solve? If it’s just you riding into the wind, that’s a very different problem than moving you plus another adult. It’s a totally different class of bike. It’s my experience owning these different bikes and knowing what they’re good for, and consulting with other people. 

The other aspect was storage – some people might need a cargo bike but have to carry it upstairs. We offer a lightweight alternative but offer a storage guide for keeping it outside.

SH: You avoid endorsing any particular brand. Was that tricky in any way?

VK: Commuter e-bikes are easy, there’s so many at different price points. The one I struggled with was e-trikes because there are a bunch of cheap alternatives with mixed reviews. My goal is to build trust but not saying a specific bike to buy, but to say, “go try these, here’s some third-party reviews.” Leaning on existing resources and reviews. I give you a class of bike, but it’s not meant to be definitive. I don’t provide a purchase link. 

SH: How much traffic has the site received and what has the response been so far?

VK: The feedback has been fantastic. The most reassuring thing I’ve heard is people who already have e-bikes pulling it up and saying I recommended the type of bike they have, so it’s working well. We’ve had about 850 users over the last month and a half. I’m working on some cross-promotion with bike shops to be listed on the site. One of the cool things is that its unaffiliated so I can do partnerships like this. My goal is to play nice with everyone so everyone can promote this tool.

SH: What do you feel is key for convincing more Chicagoans to try out riding a bike or replacing more of their car trips with biking?

Screenshot from FTRB.

VK: Honestly, I think hands on stuff is the most powerful. Last year in the 40th Ward [on the Far North Side, represented by Ald. Andre Vasquez] we hosted an e-bikepalooza that was really successful. It was in partnership with my project Chicagoans Who Bike. We had J.C. Lind [Bike Co.] doing Urban Arrows. When people try out a nice e-bike and see what it can do, it opens their mind a bit. 

I think storytelling is key too. Other people just like you are doing just fine with their bike. And maybe they still have a car for weekend getaways, but they’re saying, “It’s way easier to drop off my kids at school in this Bunch Bike or Urban Arrow than sit in the car line.” If you are dropping your kids off at school in an SUV, and you see four or five of the cool parents roll by on an Urban Arrow and drop their kids off and leave before you can drop your kids off, you’re going to think about it. There’s adoption, there’s infrastructure, and there’s tools like this, that make it easy and approachable. 

I don’t think my website will get people to buy a bike, but my goal is to get them in the funnel of trying out a bike and seeing how freeing it can be.

SH: Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

Screenshot from FTRB.

VK: One thing is I talk about car-free living FAQs. The most common thing I hear is, “What if I need to move a couch?” Yeah. You can rent cars. I think it’s so important to use the financial lens. Look, if you use a car to haul a couch once a week, then a bike is probably not going to be sufficient for your needs. But once a year? Price that out. How much does a rental cost you? The other thing is when I talk about car ownership, people just look at the sticker prices, but that’s not the full price of a car. On my site, I use $25,000 as the initial purchase price for a used car. The five-year cost of car ownership is twice that. The bikes are more expensive upfront and then almost free to run. We forget about insurance and fuel. I talk about retirement savings a lot for my work, so I’m pretty financially literate. It was key to me to mention the investment – is your retirement funded? If you have the money for a new car that’s great for you, but put it in a 401k for ten years, my sense is you’ll have about $1.1M. I think that’s the question we should be asking people.

Visit Find the Right Bike here.

Read Streetsblog’s previous story on Chicagoans Who Bike here.

On November 12, SBC launched our 2026 fund drive to raise $50K through ad sales and donations. That will complete this year’s budget, at a time when it’s tough to find grant money. Big thanks to all the readers who have chipped in so far to help keep this site rolling to the end of 2026! Currently, we’re at $32,696 with $17,304 to go, ideally by the end of May.

If you value our livable streets reporting and advocacy, please consider making a tax-deductible gift here. If you can afford a contribution of $100 or more, think of that as a subscription. That will help keep the site paywall-free for people on tighter budgets, as well as decision-makers. Thanks for your support!

– John Greenfield, editor

Tara locals are concerned their backyards will be industrialised, after the Queensland Government today approved a coal seam gas development proposed by Origin Energy’s joint venture Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG).

This article is a brief overview.
See all of the articles from the Water Quality campaign.

Historically, the Gualala River was home to abundant coho salmon and steelhead trout populations that numbered in the tens of thousands. Today, the endangered coho salmon are all but gone and threatened steelhead are struggling to survive in the home river they evolved and adapted to over millennia. The dwindling salmonid population is a critical indicator of the declining health of the Gualala River, and its 300 square mile watershed, and continues to be at the core of Friends of Gualala River’s work.

FoGR is working with state agencies to reduce water quality impairments from both sediment pollution and pollution from stormwater run-off containing toxic tire grit (6PPD).

Adult coho salmon; photo by NOAA Fisheries Sediment (TMDL)

In 2001, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) listed the Gualala River as impaired under the Clean Water Act due to excessive sediment and high temperatures – both conditions that hamper fish spawning and create unhealthy conditions for fish throughout their lifespan. The chief sources of sediment are roads, landslides, and legacy timber harvesting practices.

California agencies failed to develop plans to reduce sediment and temperature for 20 years. In 2021, FoGR petitioned the State Water Resources Control Board and North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board to incorporate the EPA’s Gualala River Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for sediment into the North Coast Basin Plan and to develop and implement an action plan specifying how sediment pollution will be reduced throughout the watershed. That petition was successful. FoGR achieved a major accomplishment that will help improve water quality and reduce sediment pollution in the Gualala River and its tributaries – a pivotal step in assisting salmonid recovery efforts.

Now that FoGR has successfully negotiated an agreement, work can begin in earnest to restore the impaired Gualala River and its tributaries. The Regional Water Board adopted the Action Plan for the Gualala River Sediment TMDL in February, 2026, and is developing a Gualala Roads Assessment Order, a watershed-specific order that will address sediment pollution by requiring the inventory, assessment, and prioritization of sediment-generating roads.

Sediment from the remains of a timber company’s summer crossing sheds into the North Fork during winter flows. (Photo courtesy of FoGR) Stormwater (6PPD)

In 2020 FoGR learned of a chemical found in tire grit that pollutes stormwater and kills a number of different aquatic species. It is especially toxic to coho salmon— 40 parts per trillion in a quart of stormwater kills juvenile coho. Information has been pouring out of the State of Washington where the effects of 6 PPD were first discovered as scientists race to learn more about how the compound kills and what can be done about it.

In 2022, CA Urban Streams Alliance-The Stream Team (The Stream Team) expanded its long-standing watershed monitoring program and began collaborating with Friends of Gualala River (FoGR) to investigate 6PPD-Quinone (6PPD-Q)—a tire-derived pollutant highly toxic to Coho Salmon and Steelhead—in the Gualala River estuary.

In May of 2024 the team of volunteers ran their first samples and discovered that stormwater runoff from the downtown area of Gualala contains high levels of 6PPD-Q, confirming their suspicions. “It makes sense,” says Baker. “Even though Gualala is a small town in a rural area, we have concentrated traffic, especially trucks, trailers, and other heavy vehicles all using Highway 1.”

Storm-event samples were collected at four sites upstream and downstream of major road surfaces and analyzed for 6PPD-Q, zinc, oil and grease, and standard field parameters. Results show elevated 6PPD-Q (up to 170 ng/L), zinc, conductivity, and turbidity, with highest concentrations at sites influenced by Highway 1, gas stations, and parking lots.

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