The green "mind" at work

This may be my favorite story of the year, the very essence of what passes for thought in the greener pastures of the left.

Seattle had a much worse time with the recent snow and ice on the roads than would other cities, even those that are not used to such conditions. Many more accidents, many more injuries and death, much more property damage.

Why did the winter weather have a uniquely bad effect on the Emerald City? The Seattle Times has the unbelievable answer:

[T]here's snow and ice left on major arterials by design.

"We're trying to create a hard-packed surface," said Alex Wiggins, chief of staff for the Seattle Department of Transportation. "It doesn't look like anything you'd find in Chicago or New York." ...

The city's approach means crews clear the roads enough for all-wheel and four-wheel-drive vehicles, or those with front-wheel drive cars as long as they are using chains, Wiggins said.

The icy streets are the result of Seattle's refusal to use salt, an effective ice-buster used by the state Department of Transportation and cities accustomed to dealing with heavy winter snows.

"If we were using salt, you'd see patches of bare road because salt is very effective," Wiggins said. "We decided not to utilize salt because it's not a healthy addition to Puget Sound."

As James Taranto notes, "Puget Sound is a saltwater estuary. That's right--Seattle officials are making their roads more dangerous because they're trying to keep salt out of the ocean."

I can't imagine a more perfectly illustrative example of the greens' anti-human ideology.