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The Colonial Pipeline spill has caused 6 states (Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, and North Carolina) to declare a state of emergency. Gasoline (petrol) prices on the east coast are likely to spike. Yet, most puzzling is how this vast emergency and its likely effect on cost of living has gone unnoticed by mainstream media outlets. The pipeline is owned by Koch Industries: is this why the media is silent?
[Are there any Soylentils in the affected area who can corroborate this story? Have you heard of the spill, seen long gas lines, or any price gouging? -Ed.]
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Six US States Declare Emergency after Major Gasoline Pipeline Spill; Media Almost Silent
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If bankers can count, how come they have eight windows and only four tellers?
(Score: 5, Informative) by isostatic on Monday September 19 2016, @09:40AM
I agree that news seems a little thin, and aimed mainly at consumer effects (price of gas increasing to 30% of the price of gas in europe), but there's enough out there to "corroborate this story".
When it happened:
WSJ: http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2016/09/15/how-a-pipeline-leak-in-alabama-can-move-gas-prices/ [wsj.com]
Trying to prevent a price surge:
AJC (Atlanta newspaper): http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2016/09/16/how-georgia-is-trying-to-prevent-a-surge-in-gas-prices-after-pipeline-spill/ [ajc.com]
About the shortage
ABC: http://abcnews.go.com/US/states-facing-gas-shortages-colonial-pipeline-spill/story?id=42153670 [go.com]
CBS: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fuel-supplies-in-at-least-5-states-threatened-by-alabama-gasoline-pipeline-spill/ [cbsnews.com]
WAPO (AP) reporting there's no shortage: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/pump-problem-ga-gov-says-hes-received-no-complaints/2016/09/18/3442cfbc-7e0a-11e6-ad0e-ab0d12c779b1_story.html [washingtonpost.com]
State of Emergency:
ABC: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/governors-declare-states-emergency-gas-crisis-42157739 [go.com]
I assume that a lot of the time on airwaves was coverage was from the terrorist* attack in NY/NJ. I get the feeling that many people just aren't interested in a massive ecological disaster, unless it hits their pocket or can be blamed on Trump/Clinton/Muslims/NRA/etc. Boring news doesn't bring in the viewers, and thus eyeballs, and thus adverts.
* Original meaning of word - action performed to cause terror
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Thexalon on Monday September 19 2016, @11:34AM
Environmental stories regularly get short shrift. That's because there's big money behind burying the story, and no money behind telling the story.
For example, it's entirely possible that you had no clue that there have been thousands of people protesting a pipeline in North Dakota for the last few weeks. The reason why is that there's been a noticeable blackout of the news about it: NPR had 1 story about it, the New York Times ran a human interest piece profiling the protesters without actually explaining why they were protesting, Reuters has a couple of wire-service articles about it that were picked up by a few newspapers' online editions, and that's about it. Fox recently started acknowledging the existence of the controversy, but only as a "Obama is angering everybody and is terrible" piece.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2016, @01:37PM
I read tons of stories and saw videos about it on BBC. Maybe people should diversify what sites they visit for news.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by DannyB on Monday September 19 2016, @02:10PM
Yes. That.
Rewind a few years. CNN shed many reporters and foreign bureaus. That foretold that it was getting out of the "news" business and would focus more on entertainment. And it did. It was addictive. The constant promise of real news (which never came) right after the break.
Then came SOPA. Not a peep in any main stream media. Not until the major internet sites went dark for a day explaining how SOPA was an existential threat to the Internet. Then all main stream media reluctantly covered it. That was an eye opener about how controlled everything was. (by someone or some group) I almost stopped watching CNN a that point, but could not break the addiction.
Later came Snowden. CNN covered it alright. But it was totally one sided. No contrary view. No suggestion that there might be another side to this story.
That was the point I just quit watching. Cold turkey.
I started looking elsewhere for news. A good first start was Google News. But then I found other foreign sources that don't have the American slant. BBC. Jerusalem Post. RT. Al Jazeera.
Like American news outlets, they all have their own bias and slant. But I'm a grown up. I think I can recognize propaganda when I see it. It opened my eyes to seeing US propaganda too. (say it ain't so!)
Here is one example of the stark contrast in media in the last year. There has been real news happening in the world. Almost daily. We haven't heard most of it on US media because . . . .
Trump, trump , trump, trump . . .
Welcome to the Trump Show!
Daily coverage of the most outrageous reality TV presidential campaign evar !!!!
You'll laugh. You'll cry. But you won't get any real substance -- or any real news.
How did we get to this point? FAILURE of our news media to keep politicians honest and hold their feet to the fire. They are controlled by the government. Not in the traditional way of the last century. But by willing participation. "If you don't tell the party line, your news organization might lose access to press conferences, and embedded access to the military, and other access." No wonder CNN and others had such a consistent story about Snowden. It's obvious in hindsight.
If you just look at US news only, you really don't have a clue what is going on in the world. Or even if you are informed, you're not necessarily seeing all sides or viewpoints.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2016, @06:33PM
shed many reporters
...and what's left is pretty gutless and/or useless.
Some recent items:
US Media Ignores CIA Cover-up on Torture [consortiumnews.com]
Data Transfer Interrupted 8-(
The Biggest Strike in World History? No Thanks, We’re Focusing on the New iPhone [fair.org]
Nationwide Prison Strike Mostly Ignored by National Media [fair.org]
Colleagues Mostly Fail to Rally for Amy Goodman, Threatened With Jail for Journalism [fair.org]
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday September 19 2016, @07:05PM
> How did we get to this point? FAILURE of our news media to keep politicians honest and hold their feet to the fire.
Correct but incomplete: have a cat video.
Two things drove US coverage, one still does:
- What's the ratings? Talk about a vanished plane for months at a time, because nobody care about South Sudan, the Philippines or Kabul... Assume the viewers are really dumb, and serve them pre-digested easy "news" that fit the feel-good, watch-that's-awesome or be-scared narratives.
- Thou Shalt Not Criticize The US: Avoid talking about anything which might threaten the overarching concept of "USA, USA, USA #1". Under W, that would amount to treason and get you listed as an enemy of the people. People want to be told they're the best. People don't want to be disturbed by complex concepts with spectrum of viewpoints. Tell the people their ideas are the best and their lifestyle is right, especially if they buy more shit. Success for detailed criticism like John Oliver or even Trump was inconceivable for a while, with barely a John Stewart turning it into comedy. Not something you'd see on actual "news"
(Score: 2) by Hyperturtle on Monday September 19 2016, @11:43PM
Yes, but its hard to watch the news while keeping up with the Kardiashians. It's like in the same timeslot or something. I think the news was also totally boring, I mean they kept promising this cute puppy thing after the break but it was at the END of the newscast? I was lost in the bathroom by then.
Other than that I concur with your views; I gave up a while ago and try not to get all of my news from the same place. TV I gave up on a while ago and I just buy the DVDs or rent or something when there is something I hear that is good to watch. Following word of mouth advice like that usually means I can save time by not complaining nothing is on.
As to the propaganda, yeah. I think it's a requirement, and as such you don't get much coverage *about* it.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Monday September 19 2016, @03:21PM
The CBC has been offering significantly more coverage than any of the US-based news networks as well. That's why I always include at least one non-US-based news source if I'm looking for a less biased view of reality.
The powers-that-be know that it is possible to get around news blackouts. However, news blackouts do keep the population that is ignorant and/or unfamiliar with the Internet from figuring out what is going on. That's working less and less as people who grew up with the World Wide Web existing are slowly but steadily becoming a majority. As the longtime saying goes, "The Internet sees censorship as damage and routes around it."
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Monday September 19 2016, @03:58PM
PBS NewsHour and BBC are my two go-to news sources.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Thexalon on Monday September 19 2016, @04:35PM
For me, it depends a lot on the subject at hand.
For example, the BBC and PBS will not give me anything close to an unbiased view of anything to do with the Middle East. Neither will Al Jazeera, on its own. But if you put the BBC, Al Jazeera, the Jerusalem Post, and PBS together, you'll get some sort of approximation of the truth.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2016, @06:43PM
The PBS NewsHour was bought by a a Right-^W Wrong-Wing syndicate in Richmond, VA quite some time back.
Starting in the early Noughties, what they covered and how they covered it took a dive.
Most notable is what they -won't- cover.
If you insist on turning to any of these Lamestream Media outlets (anything with corporate sponsors), you would do well to see what FAIR.org (Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting) has to say about that.
(FAIR also does a weekly half-hour thing called "Counterspin" that airs on my Pacifica Radio affiliate in Los Angeles (KPFK) and on an NPR affiliate (KUCI) in Orange County.)
MediaMatters.org (Media Matters for America) is another place to check about LSM's veracity.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2016, @02:03PM
> NPR had 1 story about it,
PBS spent a lot of time on it
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2016, @02:50PM
Try smaller regional papers. The Lincoln Journal Star has been covering it, and the issue isnt evern taking place in Nebraska.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2016, @01:08PM
It's also because this mostly affects the southeast. The very populous northeast part of the country isn't as affected because they also get gasoline via the major northeast seaports and refineries. Not sure why the original submitter decided there is some sort of media coverup going on.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2016, @07:15PM
Your comment seems to assume that there are no media outlets south of the Mason-Dixon.
...and the last time I was in an airliner at night over the southern part of Eastern Seaboard was years ago.
Even then, there were giant bands of light (populous areas) much of the way.
Additionally, the traditionally anti-union[1] attitude of The South had/has the remaining USA industrialists moving their operations from The Rust Belt to places southward.
...and Atlanta, Charlotte, and the Research Triangle area, as examples, are huge and still growing like weeds.
I think you are working from a very old dataset.
I don't put this phenomenon on population concentrations at all.
I put it on the USAian brand of "Capitalism" (externalized costs), Reactionary politicians gutting the regulatory inspection budget, and crappy, corporate-friendly media giving lameoids a free pass.
In short: people not doing their jobs properly.
[1] I've heard it said that Southerners still subliminally think "Union Army" (Sherman) when they hear "union".
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2016, @10:08PM
No, I make so such assumption. My point is that this has not affected much of the country outside of the southeast. There has not been a huge increase in gas prices, and there have been no shortages. As others have pointed out, there has been plenty of coverage both regionally and nationally, and internationally. The biggest point of this story is showing itself to be the fact that the article submitter needs to poke his head up out of his media safe area to look around before crying Koch coverups.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Tuesday September 20 2016, @11:33AM
Southern California, USA here. Note this is a late post. I have noted no unusual spiking of prices over here, matter of fact the diesel fuel I use went down a nickel.
Here's a nationwide map of gas prices... [gasbuddy.com]
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Monday September 19 2016, @01:57PM
Dunno about "no news". There was a story on it on the national news saying shortages were expected, then the next day saying there were shortages, then the next day saying prices went up. Did you expect them to break into reruns of Three's Company with a breaking news alert or something?
What got me was the one on prices going up. They showed the new, higher prices. Still $0.50 less than I pay in California. sigh.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by khallow on Monday September 19 2016, @01:58PM
I get the feeling that many people just aren't interested in a massive ecological disaster
It helps that it isn't actually a massive ecological disaster. It's apparently somewhere over 300,000 gallons of gasoline spilled. That's roughly 5500 barrels of hydrocarbons. Meanwhile the worst of oil spills, Deepwater Horizon is thought to have spilled roughly 5 million barrels of oil, almost three orders of magnitude more stuff.
Further, the gasoline is apparently contained in a holding pond at the site. Could be a problem down the road for local groundwater, but it's not entering a river right now.
So right there, being so far off from the worst oil and hydrocarbon spills and not having short term harm means that the press just isn't interested. This has nothing to do with the Koch brothers.
So basically, it's just a short term supply issue with plenty of backup both in pipelines and in ground, rail, and water transportation combined with a relatively minor ecological issue which the company can mostly fix without causing a lot of ecological damage (whether they proceed to do so is a different question which could become a big story in a few months or years).
(Score: 1) by ewk on Monday September 19 2016, @02:23PM
5500 barrels in a pond with a possibility to contaminate groundwater?
Put a match to it and be done with it in 2-3 days tops....
Burn it there, or burn it in the cars that it was meant for.
The environment won't notice the difference.
I don't always react, but when I do, I do it on SoylentNews
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Monday September 19 2016, @05:04PM
You seem to be implying that the cars in Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, and North Carolina don't have effective pollution control equipment, and that their engines don't control the mixing of fuel and air. Is "rolling coal" really as popular as that?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 20 2016, @06:05AM
Burning inside an engine is highly regulated as exemplified by the recent VW emissions cheating scandal. In particular the composition of the fuel-air mixture is critical. You bet the environment will notice...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_combustion_engine#Air_pollution [wikipedia.org]
Of course this is a false dichotomy, there option to use an engine is long forfeited. Perhaps you were joking.
(Score: 1) by ewk on Tuesday September 20 2016, @06:19AM
Sort of joking...
More like the choice of having 1) a small temporary hickup (Really... 5500 barrels to burn isn't that much. Perfect mixture or not.) in air quality or 2) a long term poisoning of your ground water.
Take your pick...
I don't always react, but when I do, I do it on SoylentNews
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Monday September 19 2016, @05:50PM
When the article says "The Colonial Pipeline spill has caused 6 states (Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, and North Carolina) to declare a state of emergency." it makes it sound like the spill is the emergency. It should be noted that the state of emergency was declared for the potential fuel shortages, not the spill. The emergency measures put in place loosen up transport limitations, mostly, to help get gas to where it needs to be.
Additionally, from the 2nd article: U.S. EPA personnel at the site of the spill in Shelby County say local residents are not in danger, and the spilled gasoline appears to be contained at the site and unlikely to enter the nearby Cahaba River, which is home to a number of endangered species and other sensitive wildlife.
(Score: 2) by Capt. Obvious on Monday September 19 2016, @06:07PM
It's also getting far more radio airtime in the effected areas than the NY/NJ attack (albeit based on a small sample).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2016, @11:59PM
> I assume that a lot of the time on airwaves was coverage was from the terrorist* attack in NY/NJ
Just like the news that the Pentagon lost track of a mere 2.3 trillion $ in a pr conference the day before 9/11, (anti-conspiracy sites report it too) [911myths.com].
Those terrorists are very unlucky, they always end up being more useful to the enemy than to the cause.