The TechMobility Podcast
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The TechMobility Podcast
Smart’s Comeback, Prelude’s Return, and Shipping Shockwaves
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The automotive world never stops evolving, and this week we're tracking three fascinating developments that impact everything from your daily commute to your online shopping habits.
Remember the Smart car? That tiny "pregnant roller skate" that briefly captured America's imagination is making a surprising comeback—this time fully electric. Through a joint venture between Mercedes-Benz and Chinese automotive giant Geely (Volvo's parent company), the Smart car is being reimagined for 2026. We explore whether this pint-sized EV makes sense for American roads or if it's destined to remain a European curiosity. Meanwhile, Honda's shocking announcement about bringing back the Prelude name—as a hybrid, no less—signals that maybe cars aren't dead after all in our SUV-obsessed market.
A decade after Volkswagen's Dieselgate scandal rocked the automotive world, we examine how that $30 billion mistake transformed VW into an electric vehicle pioneer. The settlement required VW to invest $2 billion in charging infrastructure, essentially jump-starting America's EV charging network through Electrify America. It's a fascinating case study in how corporate disaster can sometimes lead to unexpected innovation.
The sudden end of the "de minimis exemption" is causing havoc for international shipments. This obscure rule once allowed products valued under $800 to enter the US tariff-free, accounting for a staggering 92% of all freight entering the country. Now that it's gone, international postal traffic to the US has plummeted 81% in a single week, with 88 postal operators suspending some US service. If you're waiting on an overseas package, this explains your delays—and why prices are about to go up dramatically.
Call the TechMobility hotline at 872-222-9793 or email talk@techmobilityshow.com to share your thoughts on these developments shaping our technological future.
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Speaker 2:I'm Ken Chester On the docket VW 10 years after Dieselgate, how the end of De Minimis is impacting your online buying and the Cure, a lake full of chemicals. To add your voice to this discussion, be it to ask a question, share an opinion, whether you agree with me or not, it's fine or to suggest a topic for future discussion, call or text the TechMobility hotline, that number, 872-222-9793. Or you can email the show directly. Talk at techmobilityshow. If you listen to Substack, you can find me at Ken C Iowa. That's K-E-N, the letter C-I-O-W-A From the Tech Mobility News Desk.
Speaker 2:I want to bring you back something back to your remembrance. Do you remember the little smart car, the little two-seater that looked like literally a pregnant roller skate? Really, that was all the rage, maybe five, six, ten years ago. Well, believe it or not, they're talking about a return of the two-seater, this time all electric, still designed by Mercedes-Benz. In case you didn't know, the new city car is set to premiere late next year. Seems that the smart brand has gone through a variety of iterations. Originally it was an idea from the Swiss watchmaker Swatch. They hooked up, they ended up hooking up with Mercedes-Benz and they developed a car. That car was made in France and that became the smart car, the 4-2, and they made a model called the 4-4, f-o-r-4. But the upcoming Smart 2 is actually going to be built in China by a Chinese company still working with Mercedes-Benz, though, but not the same original folks and it's going to be built on a new proprietary architecture that the smart folks developed 30 years. Can you believe it's been 30 years? 30 years? Can you believe it's been 30 years, 30 years? Meanwhile, they built it for a while. They stopped selling it here. Let's see I'm going to check the years. I want to say probably I was in the mid-19s. Actually, I believe it was right around 2012-ish that they stopped bringing it to the United States. After a few years, they actually teamed up with Geely and, in case that name sounds familiar to you, they are the parent of Volvo. So it's a joint venture Mercedes-Benz and Geely. Smart is actually going to be built in China as an electric, which is not surprising. The concept vehicle is going to be built on Geely's SEA platform and features design details of existing smart models. So it's going to look a lot like the smart car has always looked, but kind of with a modern twist, and it's going to be a whole new, whole new generation of smart cars.
Speaker 2:Now the question will we see these in the United States? Good question, to give you an idea of the years, because I got the years down pat now. Yeah, I was right, it was actually. They launched it, actually launched it. Daimler Chrysler launched it here in the United States in 2008. And they sold it actually through 2019.
Speaker 2:I was wrong. I said 2012, correction 2019. So about 11 years. But, as you would imagine, in our big economy, with our love affair of big everything when it comes to driving big economy, with our love affair of big everything when it comes to driving, sales fell off and to the point where, you know, they stopped bringing it to the United States because it just didn't make economic sense. But here we go again. Shortly after that, they teamed up, like I said, with Geely and they're going to build it, and they're going to build it electric, which makes total sense the perfect urban car.
Speaker 2:The question is will they export this to the United States? I really don't see that happening. I think there is a market for it in Europe, a big market for it in Europe. Those of you who have traveled to Europe understand the tight streets and almost impossible parking and that the smart car would almost be considered a mid-sized car over there. And I know this because I was over there in Italy. I was driving at the time an Audi A6 and it felt like a full-size car, like the biggest thing on the road. When you know, the average vehicle over there that I was encountering was roughly and I exaggerate not half the size, it's just really tight and you have to understand this.
Speaker 2:You're looking at cities that were literally retrofitted for the car that had been around for hundreds of years, that now you've developed cars which weren't around when the cities were built and trying to make that all work. It does not work well in some of the older cities in europe, trust me, and the smart car over there would be ideal. Over here not so much, unless. Unless you're looking at a big city situation and maybe you need kind of a grocery getter or a runabout car, then actually the smart may make more sense, particularly where parking is an issue, available space is an issue, cost of operation is an issue, then, yeah, I can see a limited opportunity inside our bigger cities, the more dense situations, for maybe having a smart car electric Out here, like in the Midwest. Nah, and they had them. There are people driving them Not a lot, but there are people driving them and they definitely look out of place. But with an electric, even if it had a decent range of, say, I don't know 150, 175 miles, it'd probably work. It will definitely work.
Speaker 2:Like I said, it will definitely work in Europe. But I wanted to share this with you because I did not think that we'd ever see this again. So, according to Mercedes-Benz, like I said, they're going to build it in China, global launch plan for Europe, china and other selected markets. They did not say the United States. It will be a hit in Europe, I guarantee it, and China, given the traffic situation, probably also well, but they're not even done. They're talking about not just the smart number two. They already have a smart number one, a smart number three and they're going to build a smart five different sizes of that small car. And would you believe something that I did not know and I'm sharing with you, that car has a footprint spanning 40 countries and regions 40, 40. They sold this thing in 40 regions. There are 40 countries and regions around the world where smart cars are running around.
Speaker 2:No idea if in fact, like I said, it's going to be offered in the United States, and for that I don't know. I think it would be interesting, but not necessarily surprised if it wasn't, if it wasn't. So while I have a few minutes left before our break, let me throw this at you real quick. Honda's bringing back the Prelude, talking about bringing stuff back 2026, based on the Civic Type R chassis, and they're going to combine Honda's hybrid powertrain with it. After a 25-year hiatus, they're bringing it back as a hybrid. It's only going to be a hybrid.
Speaker 2:But the most important thing, the biggest takeaway I've got Honda is introducing a car A car, not an SUV, not a crossover a car, a car and bringing back a name. Rather than making it maybe another variant of the Civic, they're bringing back the Prelude name, which was known for economical sportiness, and when you think about it, you're going to have the performance of a Civic Type R with a fuel economy of their hybrid powertrain. It sounds like a win-win, but it does make you wonder. What does that say about the condition of the industry? Are we beginning to see the first stages of, maybe, a backlash?
Speaker 2:Maybe the Asian manufacturers had it right the whole time. Maybe they realized that as everybody went in a stampede towards crossovers and trucks and SUVs that there would be a growing return by a growing number of motorists for something less, less cost, less maintenance and just less. It's not overpowering, I guess we'll see, but yeah, it's supposed to be out in 2026. After 25 years they're bringing back the Prelude and Honda expects hybrids in their whole line to account for 60% of their total volume in the coming years. Not just Prelude, not just Civic, but everything they make in the US lineup. They expect 60%. Six out of 10 vehicles that they will be selling in coming years they expect to be hybrids. So that means they're thinking about it. Ten years after Dieselgate, volkswagen is a very different company and better for it.
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Speaker 2:To learn more about the Tech Mobility Show, start by visiting our website. I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. The website is a treasure trove of information about me and the show, as well as where to find it on the radio across the country. Keep up with the happenings of the Tech Mobility Show by visiting techmobilityshow. You can also drop us a line at talk at techmobilityshow. You can also drop us a line at talk at techmobilityshow.
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Speaker 2:Nowadays at the Volkswagen Group, executives are most likely to ask first if a new idea or engineering change is pitched, is it compliant? Ten years after Dieselgate, the German automaker is very different, having ditched diesels and embracing EVs and the corresponding infrastructure, vw's actions after the event back in 2015 cost them billions of dollars, and it may well have laid the groundwork for much of the EV charging infrastructure in the United States. This is topic A. If Volkswagen had not got caught, actually by a bunch of researchers at the University of West Virginia, by the way, on September 3rd 2015, to be exact, would there even be such a company as Electrify America? One of the things that VW had to do, in addition to buying back the vehicles and paying fines, was at least in the United States, and this was replicated throughout the world. It wasn't just the US, but just in the United States alone. They had to put up $2 billion, and that $2 billion was in $500 million trenches where they had to invest in EV infrastructure. That was part of their due that they had to do. In doing that, I would argue that Volkswagen actually had a major hand at jump-starting the EV charging business as we know it today, because they had to spend that money here in the United States. Now, I mentioned a minute ago fines. They paid $30 billion with a B dollars in fines, and they were forced to buy back thousands of vehicles. And you said, oh, I heard you how many? Well, at one point and this is just in the United States, just in the United States. And remember, vw got slapped all over the place South Korea, germany, elsewhere but in the United States alone, vw Group was forced to store nearly 300,000 vehicles at 37 sites across the United States. 37 sites 300,000. One store that ran its buyback program bought 400 vehicles. Now start multiplying. That Volkswagen Dieselgate may have very well have saved the company, because with the change, they're now known for hybrids, they're building EVs, they've got a hand in infrastructure and they really had a hand in shaping the direction.
Speaker 2:Because of their misdeeds back in 2015, 10 years ago Now, a lot of the executives either were fired or some of them, I think, even got convicted for forcibly and knowingly deceiving the government and saying oh yeah, we're compliant. And how they pulled that stunt is in the laboratory. They had it set up where it was compliant, but they had a switch or something that when it went out on the road that was turned off and the reason that they argued it was because of fuel economy. They weren't as efficient with the pollution equipment operating and they basically on deceived the government. Now, at the time, 10 years ago, and I was on the radio here locally and I reported on this and I read the EPA law and the EPA legislation the EPA rules were very emphatic about compliance and very emphatic about falsifying information. Government regulations are often vague and arcane. When it came to this, it was very clear and not arcane at all and VW broke the law and it took a college group to catch them, if you can believe it. And then when they tested these on the road, they found that they didn't comply, and that was they've been struggling for the last 10 years. West Virginia University in 2014.
Speaker 2:Vw lied to cover up the practice before the California Air Resources Board, but an American executive with Volkswagen blew the whistle. As a result and I don't know if you remember this a significant chunk of VW's US lineup was immediately subject to a stop-sale order, depriving the dealers of precious revenue. It was ugly. Bear in mind that every time the cost of gasoline went up back then VW diesel sales went up because, of course, the diesels got way better fuel economy and at one time, roughly anywhere from 7 to 18 percent of VW sales in the United States were diesels. So it got real lucrative real fast and VW had been selling diesels forever in the United States. This was not something new that happened in the last five or ten years. This was something they'd been doing for years, going all the way back to the 80s, and it was very lucrative for them until it wasn't the diesel crisis left a deep scar on Volkswagen's reputation in the United States. For many Americans and across VW's core brands in the United States, owner loyalty rates remain among the lowest in the industry.
Speaker 2:Why you don't lie to the consumer? Because these people, who are buying these vehicles for fuel economy and performance, found out that they were not complied, had to get bought back, couldn't keep them. You disrupted the lives and we're not even talking about how you even began to arrive at what the vehicle's worth versus what the person owed in order to make them whole. Now they've got a car they can't drive and all that inconvenience, which was totally unnecessary because it was nothing that the consumer did wrong. It was the auto manufacturer. That it's a given that, when you are looking at a new vehicle for sale in the United States of America, that that vehicle, as it sits on the lot or in the showroom, meets all the federal motor vehicle safety standards and all applicable federal laws and state of any, that it's in compliance, that it's safe, that it's ecologically correct and it is perfect for use, for the intended use that you plan to buy it for.
Speaker 2:When an automaker fails that, it gets into millions of dollars, tons of inconvenience, and then the fights start, particularly with the buybacks.
Speaker 2:And I was not a party, I did not own a Volkswagen during that time, so I couldn't tell you.
Speaker 2:If you were a consumer that owned, say, a diesel Jetta that you loved, that now is part of this buyback, how did you, the dealer in the bank, come to an okay conclusion on what the car was worth? And if you ended up upside down, who bailed you out? Did Volkswagen? Did the bank go to Volkswagen? Did the dealer be okay? Hard to say, hard to say. But all of that ended up that Volkswagen is still short of their pre-dieselgate sales in the United States, although they're closing in and although now they don't sell diesels, they sell electrics, id4 and others and they're making their way back, but it's a long, painful road that cost them many billions of billions of dollars and many vehicles they could not sell around the world. And, in fairness, some other manufacturers got caught up in that too. Mercedes-benz, for one, got their hands slapped in the middle of that with at least one engine that wasn't compliant. The end of de minimis exception is roiling the small package delivery industry, with consumers in the crosshairs.
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Speaker 2:Did you know that TechMobility has a YouTube channel? Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the TechMobility Show. Each week, I upload a few short videos of some of the hot topics that I cover during my weekly radio program. I've designed these videos to be informative and entertaining. It's another way to keep up on current mobility and technology news and information. Be sure to watch, like and subscribe to my channel. That's the Tech Mobility Show on YouTube. Check it out.
Speaker 2:In the small package delivery business, it's something called the de minimis exemption, and that exemption allows goods with a value of under $800 US to flow into the United States tariff-free, creating a boon in international e-commerce over the past 10 years. Recently, the administration has halted that exemption, causing confusion, higher costs and snags in shipments from abroad. If you're shopping online, it affects you. This is topic B. Up till now, you probably never even heard of the de minimis exemption, but for all the little trinkets that Americans buy online from Amazon, shamu, shine or wherever you get it, etsy, wherever if it comes into the United States and it's less than $800, it's tariff free and, as a result, the floodgates of all kinds of stuff that's currently filling your house was possible. Now, the original termination of that exemption was against China. Within a few weeks after that it was expanded to the rest of the world. So that means anything that was not purchased for delivery in the United States if it was not made here, for delivery here is subject to a tariff and businesses, small and large, are having a fit because they don't understand in terms of confusion, higher costs, snags, particularly where it's coming, where it's going. So if you've been waiting on something coming from overseas and right now I'm waiting on something delivery and they hadn't told me this. But now that I think about it, this is exactly what's going on, why they don't have their shipment yet and why I don't have delivery yet. This all came to a head late last month. That's when it was suspended for the rest of the world. It's been that case in China, hong Kong. This spring. Businesses are trying to figure out, in the crosshairs of all of this, who owes what where, and it's a big problem. Already we're seeing a decrease in these shipments.
Speaker 2:But a little history, because you know I love to give the history. This threshold goes back to the US trade measures back in the 1930s as the US grappled with the Great Depression's aftermath and tried to minimize potential costs and difficulties of processing low-value imports. That threshold, back in the day, started at a buck, then went to $5 in 1990, $200 in 1993, and $800 about 10 years ago as the US tried to open up global trade. Over that time, an entire universe of online commerce grew around the exemption. We all I bet just about everybody, particularly most of y'all within the sound of my voice buy stuff online, maybe not all the time, but on a regular basis. Shipments that qualified for the de minimis status comprised 92% of all the freight entering the United States, according to government data. I want to say that again, shipments that qualified for that status de minimis exemption status comprised 92% out of 100 of all freight coming into the United States. Us Customs and Border Protection handles around 4 million shipments a day. 80% of those I'm sorry, 92% of those de minimis exemption at least used to be Now what.
Speaker 2:The government contends that it's a way to stop the influx of fentanyl and other illicit drugs. But if you are a company elsewhere in the world that sells into the United States items that cost less than $800, now you've got some issues. Prices for some items on the online crafts marketplace and I'm talking about Etsy were going up but added there were alternatives for any products that got caught up in any de minimis disarray. But the problem is do you know and have people identified which is which? Speaking of Etsy, I have an order personally for a personalized business case. They're going to put a personal design on the top of it. They were waiting for their machines in order to do that. That was two weeks ago. They don't know when they're going to get it because no doubt the machine they're waiting on is getting caught up in this.
Speaker 2:A UN agency that tries to facilitate cooperation along with the world's postal carriers said that postal traffic to the United States from its 192 member nations get this now dropped 81% on August 29th when compared to August 22nd, as postal operators struggled to adapt to the new collection rules. Who do you collect it from? Who do you remit it to? What applies, particularly if you've got stuff coming in different directions and going different places. It's not as easy as it sounds. Straight up, those rules, the agency said, for the first time, place the burden of customs duty collection and remittance on transportation carriers or the US Customs and Border Protection Agency-approved qualified parties. These folks don't have any experience in collecting this stuff and documenting this stuff and knowing how to remit it. So everybody's scurrying and trying to figure it out.
Speaker 2:So if you were expecting something that was coming from China or any other country outside of the United States that you've ordered lately, be it Amazon, Etsy, shemu, I mean Taimu or other and you ain't got it yet, chances are it's caught up in them trying to figure out how the tariffs apply and what to charge. And here's another issue Depending on when you place that order, they probably didn't price in the tariff or figure out how to do that. So there's the other issue of is it economically feasible to even fill the order at this point? And no doubt I'm willing to bet that some of these companies outright canceled orders, saying that you know what, at the price we offered it prior to the implementation of the tariff at the end of August. We can't make any money doing this at all. We can't honor this because it's too great a loss In total. And this is the same agency, the Universal Postal Union, and this is a UN agency that tries to facilitate cooperation amongst the world's postal carriers. They said 88 international postal operators have suspended at least some service to the United States until a fix was available and the agency said it was offering a program to help deliverers calculate the new costs.
Speaker 2:Analysts that follow this industry said that the removal of the de minimis exemption is expected to result in a muted air peak season in 25, as the tight peak markets in 20 through 24 were driven by air demand from Chinese e-commerce players using the de minimis loophole. Bank of America analysts said in a research note last week In the United States, fedex said that fiscal first quarter results are expected to cost they expect that tariffs will cost them they said this in June $170 million over their fiscal first quarter results. It ain't pretty out there and there are a lot of unintended consequences. What does this mean? Even if you are a small business importing this stuff for resale, where does that put you if you can't get it and they're talking about 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 percent tariff being passed on to you?
Speaker 2:You've already quoted the price of the customer. You're stuck. You either cancel the order and walk away risk ill will, or you try to raise prices going forward. Not pretty. Residents near one New Hampshire lake use chemicals to save them from a toxic cyanobacteria bloom. Did it work? We are the Tech Mobility Show.
Speaker 4:Are you tired of juggling multiple apps and platforms for meetings, webinars and staying connected? Look no further than AONmeetingscom, the all-in-one browser-based platform that does it all. With AONmeetings, you can effortlessly communicate with clients, host virtual meetings and webinars and stay in touch with family and friends all in one place and for one price. Here's the best part you can enjoy a 30-day free trial. It's time to simplify your life and boost your productivity. Aonmeetingscom, where innovation meets connection, get started today and revolutionize the way you communicate.
Speaker 2:To learn more about the Tech Mobility Show, start by visiting our website. Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. The website is a treasure trove of information about me and the show, as well as where to find it on the radio across the country. Keep up with the happenings at the Tech Mobility Show by visiting techmobilityshow. That's techmobilityshow. You can also drop us a line at talk at techmobilityshow.
Speaker 3:In business opportunity doesn't wait, and neither should you. At Playbook Investors Network, we connect visionary entrepreneurs with the strategies, resources and capital they need to win. Whether you're launching, scaling or reimagining your business, our network turns ambition into measurable success. Your vision deserves more than a plan. It deserves a playbook that works. Playbook Investors Network, where bold ideas meet bold results. Visit pincommunityorg today.
Speaker 2:Did you know that TechMobility has a YouTube channel? Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the TechMobility Show. Each week, I upload a few short videos of some of the hot topics that I cover during my weekly radio program. I've designed these videos to be informative and entertaining. It's another way to keep up on current mobility and technology news and information. Be sure to watch, like and subscribe to my channel. That's the Tech Mobility Show on YouTube. Check it out.
Speaker 2:Lake Kanesaka is a modest lake covering 352 acres near Moultonboro, new Hampshire. This once crystal clear lake had turned an alarming shade of Gatorade green by 2020. The result of an out-of-control bloom of potentially toxic cyanobacteria that can harm humans and animals. Amid worsening conditions, the Lake Association pursued a last resort chemical treatment. Did it work? This is Topic C. We are dealing with rising temperatures, increased runoff from chemicals that we treat the land with, be it phosphates or nitrous or a whole bunch of other stuff. Nutrients ends up in the lake. Warming temperatures changes the physiology of the lake, making it friendly to algae of the lake, making it friendly to algae, and an algae bloom, if you've never seen one, is literally where the lake just explodes full of this stuff. The problem in this case is that the bloom of the particular type of algae that basically choked the lake was toxic to both humans and animals and the worst part about it, if it's disturbed it can go airborne and affect folk just by being in proximity of it in the air. One person canoeing near a bloom said her lips were going numb and she learned that under certain circumstances that stuff can go airborne and she was getting contact with it.
Speaker 2:If you want to save your pristine lake, what do you do? 352 acre lake, 152 acre lake, and what was the problem is that lake drained into a larger lake that was well known in the state of New Hampshire and was threatening tourism, people's livelihoods and everything. They had to do something. It was going to take hundreds of thousands of dollars and what they decided to do is they rolled the dice and they decided to basically treat the lake, the whole lake, with a chemical mix in order to stop the potentially toxic cyanobacteria, because the lake had crossed its tipping point. Nutrients from fertilizer, stormwater runoff and increased levels of phosphorus was fueling the growth, and they did not want the larger lake, lake Winnipesaukee, which you probably heard that name it's the state's largest lake and an economic engine. For so many reasons they didn't want it being compromised. So what did they do? The Lake Association pursued a last resort chemical treatment coating the lake with aluminum compounds that could end up killing fish and other aquatic life, and it wasn't guaranteed to fix the problem.
Speaker 2:Now, you're probably not a sci-fi geek and I'm not a deep one, but this sounds like a book I read called the End of the Dream by Philip Wiley, and in one case they had a river in that fictional account. That was way too scary that they actually put a cover, a flowing cover on it because it was so toxic and occasionally the toxicity would break through the cover and blow up and kill people. So when I read a coat the lake with aluminum compounds, yeah, that gave me chills. What I learned in researching for this story this is not new that in fact, using this type of procedure had been going on in New England, in the southern states, rhode Island, connecticut, massachusetts, since the 1970s and, like I said, it wasn't cheap. They probably spent easily close to a million dollars wasn't cheap, they probably spent easily close to a million dollars. And from what the experts tell them is that if it works, if you're good, it may only last for 13 years.
Speaker 2:And in order to get the permits from the state of New Hampshire and the corresponding money, they had to prove and they had to work towards convincing residents to, you know, change their ways, reduce the amount of phosphorus going into the lake. And it took. It took a while, but how does it work? You probably wonder OK, spread it with aluminum Big deal. How does that do anything? Let me tell you the aluminum compound would bond with the phosphorus and trap it at the lake bottom. They tried it in New Hampshire in 84 and again in 2021. And that treatment, that treatment, just the treatment, not everything else that got to go with it, just the treatment alone was $600,000.
Speaker 2:Here's something you may not realize. Here's something you may not realize. Every lake has a low volume of this particular algae, usually trapped at the bottom of the lake, usually in very low doses. The tipping point for these blooms with phosphorus as a major nutrient is 10 parts per billion. Looms with phosphorus as a major nutrient it's 10 parts per billion. That's the tipping point. At the bottom of this lake, they were 200 parts per billion, 20 times higher than the tipping point. That usually triggers this stuff.
Speaker 2:And to fix it, not only would they have to stop it from below, but they also would have to stop the inbound amount of phosphorus going into the lake. And that meant education and that meant remedial processes, planting plants near the lake edge, looking for ways to reduce the amount of phosphorus used on the land surrounding the lake, making it less likely to drain in it, installing drainage ditches and encouraging property owners to update septic systems. And that plant vegetation would slow stormwater runoff so nutrients could absorb into the soil before reaching the lake. Before they could get the money, they had to do some remedial work to reduce the amount of external nutrients going into the lake, so that they could deal with the lake itself. So you're wondering by now, did it work Best? They can tell yes, it did and to their relief, it did not result in very terminal impact on the ecology of the lake. But, like I said earlier, in this segment experts are saying at best you got 13 years. 13 years. Unless you get aggressive about reducing what's going into the lake to the point where you can stop it or mitigate it somehow, you're going to have the same problem in 13 years.
Speaker 2:And this is what happens any time you try to bioengineer something. There's cause and effect as we use all kinds of chemicals on land. There's an effect as it drains into the water. Heavy storms wash extra stuff into the water. They've had a couple of mini blooms because of hard rains that added stuff into the water that wasn't normally there since the application of this stuff, but it was nowhere near as bad as the original one. This is a cautionary tale, because if it could happen in New Hampshire, it can happen anywhere. Particularly, we live in Iowa, where there are nutrients all over the place and we're dealing with it in real time, trying to keep our water clean, trying to keep our water drinkable and trying to protect our sources. This is a nationwide problem and we got to change our way.
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