Just for the record, TD's supporters wasted "at least" 2 gallons of fossil fuels the day of his sentencing.
A bunch of them held hands in a circle in the middle of the intersection at 400 S and Main St, effectively shutting down the entire TRAX public transportation system for at least an hour (sluggish I'm sure for an hour or more after that). I was on the first train that was stopped by the group (heading southbound at about 5:45 pm). After 15 minutes, UTA let us off the train. I exchanged some choice words with a few of the protestors (I'm glad there were no TV cameras close by, avoiding embarrassment to my family due to my impolite language). Then I walked to the 900 South Trax station and then on to the 1300 South Trax station hoping they would be turning trains around at that point rather then let them back up as they tried to head into town. Instead, they just stopped all train travel in all directions from the best I could tell. Eventually, I had my wife meet me at 1300 South and 700 East to give me a ride home as she would otherwise be late for an appointment.
It cost me 2 gallons of fuel to have my wife come pick me up. That is 2 gallons of fuel that need not have been pumped out of the ground, refined, nor burned into the atmosphere.
IF there were an average of 192 passengers on each train (the sitting capacity of the standing room only train I was on). And IF there are an average of 4 trains each hour in each direction (there were 4 directions of routes that were shut). And IF the trains were completely shut down for an entire hour. And if each passenger had to undertake similar steps as myself to overcome the situation. Then I calculate that the potential waste of fuels due to the actions of these "enviro" supporters could be as high as 6,000 gallons of fuel.
Plus, I wonder how many of them used fuel to drive their cars to their gathering.
I was glad to hear that nearly 2 dozen of them were arrested or cited. I hope that, at the very minimum, they each get a $300 fine for crossing the TRAX tracks outside of a crosswalk.