Ohio train derailment....

[Penguin]

I am going to ask a question but, maybe, not the one you are thinking of.

Do you believe that the derailment was handled properly? Do you think that the EPA is correct and the water/soil/air is uncontaminated.

Reason I ask is that in the little I am seeing on the net about it there appears to be lot of political ass covering and finger pointing going on. Very unproductive methinks. But I really think that this is more of a class and/or country vs city divide. Honestly? I don't think many people not in flyover country appear to give a damn what went on there. It's actually quite amazing to watch the dog who didn't bark but I guess we're getting used to that.

Will

[BarryBobPosthole]

I just watched Devine's press conference. He acts as if it's a big nothing burger environmentally. The creek with the dead fish was dammed up immediately and remediation is under way. No traces of contaminants in any homes. No water, air, or soil contamination.
Then you hear people who live in the shadow of the thing talking about smelling and tasting the chemicals (that aren't there according to EPA and the Gov). Headaches. And so on.
One of my first cousins worked extensively on the Exxon Valdez cleanup and he was disgusted the way the media portrayed a lot of stuff, like showing the same oil covered bird over and over and over again. He's prone to exaggeration, but he was there, and I trust him. Watch any news channel this week for ten minutes and you'll see the same thing happening here.

I don't know who to believe. so if I lived there, I wouldn't believe anyone. Which solves absolutely nothing. But the erosion of trust in what the supposed experts tell us is really the problem at hand we need to resolve.

BKB

[Thumper]

Who knows what to believe anymore? P-hole, your Valdez story, about the oil covered bird, reminds me of when I lived in California. There would be an earthquake, but hardly anybody even felt it. (Most times, I did not)

I remember one report of a quake in the area I worked (Glendale). Again, I never felt it and as far as I know, nobody else in the shop did either. All of a sudden, my phone blows up! Friends, family, etc. were calling to see if I was still alive. The first call was from my mom and she just “knew” I’d been killed in all the devastation!

Once I got home that evening, I watched the news to find out why everyone assumed I’d been buried under a pile of rubble. The news agencies kept showing the SAME building over and over. It was an OLD relic from the early 1900’s and the brick facia had been dislodged, peeled off and fell to the sidewalk. It wasn’t even occupied as it had long been converted to just a warehouse for some sort of storage.

I guess news was slow that day because if you were watching the news from under a rock, you’d swear all of L.A. had been leveled.

[Penguin]

I agree.

I don't know what to believe or who to trust. Hell of a thing isn't it?

Pretty glad I don't live in the neighborhood. I admit that being around any of those kinds of chemicals makes me nervous. The cynic in me believes that things might have been handled a bit differently had the derailment occurred in Martha's Vineyard or Cape Cod.

Will

[Thumper]

Ha ha ha! So true Willie! I know for a fact those anti-build-a-wall folks had a shit-fit when our Governor shipped a plane load of illegals up to their doorsteps! [emoji1787]

[johnboy]

Remember the phrase "in an abundance of caution" that was used over and over again to justify some over the top covid response? Why isn't that true now in Ohio? My view - get those poor people the hell away from that site until it is CERTAIN that there is NO risk. Treat them at least as well as your feds are treating illegal immigrants. You know, nice hotels and all the good stuff. Seems reasonable to me. Did FEMA really refuse to help? WTF!

[Thumper]

If we were tuned into the “over abundance of caution” mode, we’d have shot down that Chinese balloon before it traveled all the way across the country!

No wait!! The reason we did NOT shoot it down was an over abundance of caution!

Now I’m confused. :(

[johnboy]

Me too, Jim. Been around a while and can't remember any time things were this fucked up. How long can a country last when it appears that every 'decision maker' is either a fool, incompetent, criminal or just plain stupid?

[quercus alba]

a fool, incompetent, criminal or just plain stupid?

I think you should have said criminally a fool, criminally incompetent and criminally stupid

[Penguin]

One of the things that would have me worried is that combustion of this type is not very efficient. It is difficult to burn anything open air and not have a lot of it combust only partly or not at all.

So who was the one who decided "Fuck it.... Let's just burn the shit. Sounds good?"

Maybe this was the right decision. But it seems a little seat of the pants to me.

Will

[johnboy]

Fallout from the toxic plume has been detected across the lake in Ontario so it's now an international disaster.

[Thumper]

As long as we don’t have any of those demon oil pipelines up and running, all is good.

[BarryBobPosthole]

Now there's a leap in logic that's hard to follow.

When in doubt, blame it on something totally unrelated!
BKB

[quercus alba]

Politics 101

[Thumper]

How are they unrelated? They both transport nasty fluids. I just mention oil pipelines because they are the devil in so many eyes, but these nasty liquid products have to be transported somehow. Barges, tankers, pipelines, trucks, and railroads. They all have the potential for accidents. I’m just entering my bitching into the mix to stir the anti-pipeline mud.

[BarryBobPosthole]

I guess you’re trying to bring attention to the fact that they always say that this sort of thing never happens when it comes to building/regulating them? I think the overall regulation was relaxed under both Obama and Trump, based largely on how much it costs the industry vs the safety. Lots of folks are saying ‘I told you so’. Bottom line is it happened and there’s lots of denial in the face of evidence to the contrary. Reminds me of how Russia responded to Chernobyl.
BKb

[quercus alba]

It's Bush's fault

[BarryBobPosthole]

More'n likely!

Salute to Niner!

BKB