It’s not surprising that areas that don’t get snow very often are paralyzed when a snowstorm hits. You can’t fault the DPW in Tennessee for not having the equipment or experience necessary to handle a once in a decade snowstorm.

But places that do experience snowfall on a regular basis should be expected to have the wherewithal to clean it up. Seattle can get up to 20 inches of snow in 24 hours so they should be ready to handle it.

Unfortunately for Seattle residents, their department of transportation is run by idiots who are more concerned with being eco-friendly than protecting their human residents from harm.

Their snow plows have rubber edges to avoid damaging the roads and manholes. While metal edges can damage roads if the drivers are untrained, used correctly they don’t cause any harm and they scrape up the ice left behind by the kinder, gentler rubber blades.

But the biggest problem is they refuse to use salt, which is a proven method of getting rid of the final layer of ice and snow. Salt, you see, is bad for the environment. Instead, they want to “hard pack” the snow and lightly toss a sprinkling of sand over it. According to experts in snow removal they don’t use nearly enough to do the job, but sand is messy and icky and dirty. Can’t have that. Besides, what’s the worst that could happen?

How about killing 80 kids?

Two Yankee Trails buses with about 80 kids inside collided and slid down a snowy hill, plowing through a guard rail and finally stopping – with the front of the busses hanging over empty air. With just a bit more momentum one or both of them would have plunged over the precipice, sending everyone on board to their doom.

Alex Wiggins, chief of staff for the Seattle Department of Transportation, said, “We decided not to utilize salt because it’s not a healthy addition to Puget Sound.”

“It’s tough going. I won’t argue with you on that,” he said. But here in Seattle, “we’re sensitive about everything we do that impacts the environment.”

I wonder how much greenhouse gas would be spewed by backhoes digging 80 graves.