To the editor:

Many know Lawrence was founded in 1854 in an effort to prevent the extension of slavery by directly confronting slavery in the new territories being opened in the westward expansion of the United States. And many also know Douglas County is the area where the first battles between pro- and anti-slavery forces took place. Prior to the founding of Lawrence there was little to no dedication to ending Negro slavery even in the northern states, where lip service was the only tactic being used in support of ending slavery.

Today Lawrence is the scene of much “lip service” for waste reduction, ending oil dependence, reducing the city’s carbon footprint and making gains in sustainability, but little or no real progress is being made even though members of the city’s Waste Reduction Committee, the Sustainability Advisory Board and the Peak Oil Task Force know the way forward (the city and county scale biorefinery) is the appropriate bridging technology tool-of-choice. However, because lip service is seemingly good enough, and because dedication is lacking, little or no real progress is being made.

One problem facing the city and the county is this “tool-of-choice” (the city county scale biorefinery) has not yet been demonstrated, and this kind of project is not being pursued locally even though funding for energy efficiency and environmental demonstrations is available through stimulus funds, and such technology has been developed here and is available for such a demonstration.