As that effort presses forward into round two, journalists need to stay sharp. There is no dispute about the basics of climate science. Next year, the release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth Assessment Report and the US National Climate Assessment, two of the strongest consensus statements in the field, will almost certainly express even greater confidence in the looming threat. It’s only a question of what the second Obama administration will (or won’t) do about it.
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I guess as part of the climate we should include how 'drill baby drill' bipartisan petroleum policy has made this a regular thing:
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/16/15219089-oil-rig-explodes-in-gulf-of-mexico-2-people-missing-4-rushed-to-hospital
"Two people were missing and four people were airlifted to a hospital Friday after an oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico some 17 miles southeast of Grand Isle, La., the U.S. Coast Guard told NBC News.
The new explosion came a day after BP settled criminal charges in the Macondo disaster by agreeing to pay $4.5 billion in penalties. It still faces up to $20 billion in civil fines."
I suppose if we question the taxpayer subsidies and cheap as water leases we give to the fossil fuel industries, we'll be accused of being unreasonable hippies once again.
It sucks being a hippie. You're right all the time and no one listens, no one cares.
Wonder if this time we can get some proper f@ckig booming.
http://m.dailykos.com/story/2010/05/11/865387/-Fishgrease-DKos-Booming-School
#1 Posted by Thimbles, CJR on Fri 16 Nov 2012 at 12:42 PM
Hidey ho Naomi!
http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-hurricanes-capitalism-democracy/
Meanwhile,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/16/black-elk-oil-rig-explosion
"Reports of the fire immediately recalled the April 2010 blowout of BP's well in the Gulf of Mexico, which killed 11 men and unleashed one of America's worst environmental disasters.
But the Black Elk Facility – unlike BP's Macondo well – was not a drilling rig, and it was not operating in deep water, which means the potential environmental consequences could be relatively slight.
A sheen of oil about 1km long and 200m wide was reported on the Gulf surface, but officials believe it came from residual oil on the platform."
So it looks like this accident won't be serious this time.
Aren't we lucky.
#2 Posted by Thimbles, CJR on Sun 18 Nov 2012 at 02:30 AM
Meanwhile, neat story on pipelines by propublica:
http://www.propublica.org/article/pipelines-explained-how-safe-are-americas-2.5-million-miles-of-pipelines
"when a pipeline does fail, the consequences can be catastrophic (though typically less so than airplane accidents), with the very deadliest accidents garnering media attention and sometimes leading to a federal investigation.
While both air travel and pipelines are safer than their road alternatives, the analogy only extends so far. Airplanes are replaced routinely and older equipment is monitored regularly for airworthiness and replaced when it reaches its safety limits. Pipelines, on the other hand, can stay underground, carrying highly pressurized gas and oil for decades – even up to a century and beyond. And while airplanes have strict and uniform regulations and safety protocols put forth by the Federal Aviation Administration, such a uniform set of standards does not exist for pipelines.
Critics maintain that while they’re relatively safe, pipelines should be safer. In many cases, critics argue, pipeline accidents could have been prevented with proper regulation from the government and increased safety measures by the industry. The 2.5 million miles of America’s pipelines suffer hundreds of leaks and ruptures every year, costing lives and money. As existing lines grow older, critics warn that the risk of accidents on those lines will only increase...
Critics say that PHMSA lacks the resources to adequately monitor the millions of miles of pipelines over which it does have authority. The agency has funding for only 137 inspectors, and often employs even less than that (in 2010 the agency had 110 inspectors on staff). A Congressional Research Service report found a “long-term pattern of understaffing” in the agency’s pipeline safety program. According to the report, between 2001 and 2009 the agency reported a staffing shortfall of an average of 24 employees a year.
A New York Times investigation last year found that the agency is chronically short of inspectors because it just doesn’t have enough money to hire more, possibly due to competition from the pipeline companies themselves, who often hire away PHMSA inspectors for their corporate safety programs, according to the CRS.
Given the limitations of government money and personnel, it is often the industry that inspects its own pipelines."
I remember back in the days we had wind spills, it knocked whole clotheslines down. Oh the humanity.
Seriously, we've got to do energy better than this.
#3 Posted by Thimbles, CJR on Sun 18 Nov 2012 at 02:46 AM
Jesus H Christ.
From here:
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/grand-isle-shipyard-lawsuit-112112
To here:
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/11/accident_sheds_light_on_use_of.html
"Grand Isle Shipyard Inc., the company whose workers were aboard the West Delta Block 32 platform Friday morning when an explosion and fire killed one worker, left another missing and injured 11 more, is facing charges of abusive and exploitative working conditions akin to slavery in a federal lawsuit filed by former workers from the Philippines...
According to court papers, the Filipino workers originally responded to job offers from Industrial Personnel and Management Services Inc., a recruiting firm based in Quezon City, Philippines, and a second company. The workers had to pass skill tests showing they could perform the trades required by Grand Isle Shipyard, including welding and pipefitting, and were told they would be paid $16.25 an hour for regular time and $24.37 an hour for overtime, along with transportation to the United States, housing and food.
Actual pay was as low as $5.50 an hour, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit alleges that the workers were required to sign two different contracts, containing differing pay rates, with the contract containing higher wages complying with federal law filed with the U.S. Embassy in Manila, and a second contract, with lower wages, filed with the companies...
When they got to Louisiana, the workers allege they were charged exorbitant rates to live in substandard facilities. They also were charged fees for equipment used during their work, the suit said, even though the companies "ultimately retained, and clearly benefited from, these work-related tools and equipment."
"Once plaintiffs and other Filipino workers arrived in the United States, however, defendants forced them into involuntary servitude and subjected them to insufferable and inhumane living and work conditions," said a memorandum filed with the court by the workers in support of a motion -- granted Monday by U.S. District Judge Kurt Englehardt -- to block Grand Isle and DNR employees from intimidating them for being involved in the lawsuit."
ARE WE SERIOUS? This kind of crap is bad when it involves abusing students on visa to haul Hershey's chocolates.
This is petrol in the goddamn, Gulf. We're going to put slave labor to work with explosive materials near potentially catastrophic deposits of oil in the goddamn Gulf?
How sick does one have to be? Honestly.
#4 Posted by Thimbles, CJR on Wed 21 Nov 2012 at 07:12 PM
Just so you know journalists, this is an interesting contrast in coverage:
From the original link above:
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/16/15219089-coast-guard-searches-for-2-missing-after-gulf-oil-rig-blast
"The owner of the platform is Houston-based Black Elk Energy. On its website, the company stated that this month it was starting to drill the first of 23 new wells in the Gulf of Mexico.
Last Sunday, The Houston Chronicle named Black Elk Energy one of the top small businesses to work for in Houston based on employee surveys."
From here:
http://www.nola.com/traffic/index.ssf/2012/11/trailed_by_allegations_preside.html
"Mark Pregeant had no problem giving a reporter a tour on Tuesday of the Galliano bunkhouse at the center of a class-action lawsuit targeting his company, Grand Isle Shipyard. Twenty former employees from the Philippines say the company forced them to pay between $2,000 and $3,500 a month to live in a 10-foot by 10-foot room, six to a room, while working long hours for low wages.
Grand Isle Shipyard employed many of the workers onboard the Black Elk Energy platform that caught fire and exploded Friday off the coast of Louisiana."
Yeah, sounds like a nice company to work for. What do you say - am I being odd for being ENRAGED by all this?
#5 Posted by Thimbles, CJR on Wed 21 Nov 2012 at 07:22 PM