SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop. Only 15 submissions in the queue.
SoylentNews
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.]
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
Six US States Declare Emergency after Major Gasoline Pipeline Spill; Media Almost Silent
|
Log In/Create an Account
| Top
| 86 comments
| Search Discussion
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
We lie loudest when we lie to ourselves.
-- Eric Hoffer
(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.