SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Report: Facebook Quietly Abandoned Drilling Gear Off the Oregon Coast:
Facebook has boldly face-planted right into one of the few remaining types of fuckups it hasn't before: quietly abandoning a pile of drilling equipment under the ocean.
Per The Oregonian, Facebook subsidiary Edge Cable Holdings was in the middle of drilling to place a trans-oceanic fiber optic cable off the coast of Tierra Del Mar, Oregon when a drill bit became stuck on April 28, 2020, rupturing a pipe approximately 50 feet below the seafloor. The company moved on, but "about 1,100 feet of pipe, a drill tip, various other tools, and 6,500 gallons of drilling fluid" did not. Edge notified county officials of the accident on May 5, Department of State Lands spokeswoman Ali Hansen told the Oregonian, but declined to mention it had left large amounts of equipment on the seafloor until it told state officials on July 17.
Hansen told The Oregonian that Edge's delay in informing state officials "eliminated any potential options for recovery of the equipment," while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers told the newspaper that Edge plans to just construct a separate pipe in 2021 without cleaning up after itself. Hansen's department has notified Edge it is violating permits by continuing to "store" its equipment onsite, the paper reported, as well as notified Facebook it had 30 days to pay damages, 180 days to remove their junk or get a new permit, and must accept any liability for the incident.
[...] Facebook disputed these accounts, saying the state had been notified earlier and adding that Edge had determined its sea trash wouldn't harm the environment.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Friday August 14 2020, @06:46PM (44 children)
Edge doesn't sound qualified to be making environmental impact judgements.
Here's a clue: if there's a regulation requiring you to account for and recover drilling fluid: it's not harmless.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday August 14 2020, @06:57PM (23 children)
Quick googling suggests that Oregon leans Democratic. Thus they might actually believe in regulations. They might actually believe that drilling fluid is not harmless. They might even try to enforce regulations.
This was a stupid move on Facebook's part. A lesson I hope Facebook will learn from and not repeat.
Next time, drill off the cost of a state that does not believe in regulation over businesses, or care about health or the environment. A state that calls such policies "pro business". As in "we're a pro business state!".
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 3, Touché) by DECbot on Friday August 14 2020, @07:39PM (17 children)
And where exactly can we find this lucrative state on the Left Coast?
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 14 2020, @07:47PM (1 child)
Follow the smoke and smell of Molotov cocktails.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2020, @06:28AM
The state of OR will settle the case for 1000 user cancellations because real world toxic waste is much less of a public health issue than the existence of people who aren't sufficiently woke.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday August 14 2020, @07:49PM
Then maybe Facebook should not be abandoning drilling equipment and fluids, and instead look for different types of crimes to commit which they can get away with.
"...and I would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for those meddling kids!"
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 1) by PaperNoodle on Friday August 14 2020, @08:26PM (1 child)
Oddly enough, I came across this movement [greateridaho.org] the other day.
Who knows maybe someday we can plan a vacation to the coastal state of Greater Idaho.
B3
(Score: 3, Funny) by captain normal on Saturday August 15 2020, @12:23AM
Well if they're going to convince anyone, they need to design a better web-site.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 3, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Friday August 14 2020, @08:56PM (11 children)
Follow the slick to Deepwater Horizon... Louisiana.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1) by hemocyanin on Saturday August 15 2020, @06:33AM (10 children)
Let's recall that it was the Obama administration that relived that company of the usual regulatory requirement to have a safety plan.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2010/05/gulf-m06.html [wsws.org]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Saturday August 15 2020, @01:51PM (9 children)
Obama was no saint, but he at least put on a good face and maybe did a little more good than harm. I know that's a low bar, but since Carter it seems we just keep digging for lower standards as the decades roll on.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1) by hemocyanin on Saturday August 15 2020, @04:36PM (8 children)
No saint? Due process free execution by secret tribunals using secret law. No saint indeed. Fucking satan.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday August 15 2020, @06:05PM (7 children)
Have we improved since?
Were we better off with WMD and the invasion of Iraq?
Take progress where you can get it, preferably demand progress at each election.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2020, @06:56PM (1 child)
Quite. I profited under Trump and will vote for him this year, after voting Green last time. A Biden presidency is likely to hike taxes and be run by people in the background, like under Baby Bush. A Harris presidency is likely to put many poorer people in jail for petty crimes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 16 2020, @01:44AM
Trump raped my wife, killed my children and ate their livers.
See, AC can say anything.
(Score: 2, Touché) by khallow on Sunday August 16 2020, @01:20AM (1 child)
Have we whataboutismed enough? I'll just say that I don't see Obama as an improvement on Bush II or Trump.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday August 16 2020, @01:21AM
(Score: 1) by hemocyanin on Sunday August 16 2020, @02:04AM (2 children)
We've had a hiatus from getting into new conflicts (mostly -- the Democrats and other warhawks did get their wish for some Syria bombings) since BushObama years but should Democrats take control again, I fully expect the war machine to ramp up fast. It's how they will address unemployment.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday August 16 2020, @02:38AM
They seem to be building up a China/US conflict, but that would be far more devastating to both economies than COVID-anything.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 16 2020, @06:52AM
Look where general peace has got us - people thinking how they will change their gender today and media trying to tell us that is normal, people afraid of going in public because they could catch a bug, teachers want to collect their full salaries while only phoning it in for the kids, vain reflections on computers controlling a large part of the supposed value of our economy. War is horrible, but peace has made us soft and rotten.
(Score: 3, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Friday August 14 2020, @08:47PM (3 children)
A lot of states run their own version of the EPA which you're allowed to do so long as it meets the terms as the Environmental Protection Act* at a minimum.
Oregon is one of those states. While they've probably lost some federal funding they're not as completely ratfucked as the EPA is with a bunch of anti-environmentalists actively destroying things.
*the Environmental Protection Act is what gives the Environmental Protection Agency it's power.
(Score: 5, Informative) by DannyB on Friday August 14 2020, @09:06PM (1 child)
Trump stuffed every government agency with someone who would do exactly the OPPOSITE of what the mission of that agency is.
EPA, check.
FCC, check.
Dept. of Education, check.
Etc.
When trying to solve a problem don't ask who suffers from the problem, ask who profits from the problem.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Saturday August 15 2020, @04:12PM
Because... his (stated) mission is to eliminate government. Since he can't do that, he'll make it as ineffective as possible. Then, while everybody is being outraged about his overreaches of power, he can get on with the real business at hand: graft and corruption.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 14 2020, @10:43PM
not yet. FCC succeeding recently in court to keep local laws from interfering with new cell phone cells is probably going to be seen by the current regime as justification for the US EPA regs from not being superceded by local regs in the next couple of months.
Trump pathologically still wants to really stick it to California (EPA vs CARB).
(Score: 2) by Bot on Saturday August 15 2020, @04:16PM
> leans Democratic. Thus they might actually believe in regulations.
LOL a pity for your theorem that Facebook is very dem itself.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Friday August 14 2020, @07:07PM (10 children)
I've been in and out of oil fields, to deliver pipe stem, as well as delivering the various muds used. Those fluids and muds really aren't much of a concern. I've parked truckloads of the stuff in my yard, over weekends. You can take just about any of them, and spread them on your lawn or garden, or even use them to fill gullies and ravines. We would have to know specifically which drilling fluid was in use to decide that stuff is potentially dangerous, and the "danger" is probably extremely low.
But, you are right that Edge shouldn't be unilaterally making those judgements. The EPA should have been notified at the state level at the least, and maybe at the federal level.
The greater issue seems to be the abandonment of equipment. Is it remotely possible that it could interfere with navigation? Fishing? Could it pose a threat to people swimming, diving, or whatever? Might it interfere with sensitive electronic gear aboard boats and ships? Marine authorities, the world over, frown on abandoning stuff at sea.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Friday August 14 2020, @08:23PM (2 children)
But that won't stop you from going on about how safe it is!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 14 2020, @08:32PM (1 child)
Runaway, he know stuff, since he knows how to shift a two-speed differential. Truck driver, not smart enough to be a Teamster, but enough to defend environmental degradation and defend Facebook!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 16 2020, @01:58AM
It must be tough to know-it-all and have no one to tell it to.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Friday August 14 2020, @08:54PM
A LOT depends on where you are drilling. A 200' 4" drinking well made a nice truck sized pile of nasty slippery sticky goo on our land... wasn't exactly toxic, but you certainly wouldn't have wanted to walk in it when it was wet for the first 5 years after it came out of the ground, and any critters that stuff got on would have a hell of a time cleaning it off themselves.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 4, Touché) by pe1rxq on Friday August 14 2020, @11:22PM
Things don't magically become safe if an idiot dumps it in his yard......
(Score: 4, Informative) by ElizabethGreene on Saturday August 15 2020, @01:30AM (2 children)
The primary component of most drilling mud is bentonite clay, the same clay used to make cheap kitty litter.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Runaway1956 on Saturday August 15 2020, @01:39AM
The most toxic part of kitty litter, are the kitties themselves, with their sharp little teeth and even sharper claws.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday August 16 2020, @01:22AM
(Score: 2) by driverless on Saturday August 15 2020, @03:50AM (1 child)
Where's Officer Obie when you need him? I bet if he turned up with the twenty-seven 8 times 10 colored glossy pictures with the circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one, Facebook would be sent to jail for litterin' in no time.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 15 2020, @03:40PM
I'm not tired, or proud.
But that made me feel old.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday August 14 2020, @07:16PM (3 children)
Look at the bright side. There would be a lot more spilled fluids if they kept on operating.
Personally, I think it's a big shame that people aren't made to clean up their mess.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 4, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Friday August 14 2020, @08:57PM (2 children)
They are. It's called the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), AKA Superfund* [epa.gov]
There's only so much you can do when the executive branch is actively sabotaging it but it is still the law of the land.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday August 14 2020, @09:07PM (1 child)
For now, we need Harris to lay it on thick. I expect her to be very active
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday August 14 2020, @09:24PM
Seems like an aggressive prosecutor would be good for that job.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday August 15 2020, @03:25PM (4 children)
But how about the drilling fluid?
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Saturday August 15 2020, @04:14PM (3 children)
You're not alone in a cabin somewhere, are you? If you're having a stroke, you should seek help immediately - and if you're alone, you may not even recognize that you're having a stroke.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday August 15 2020, @06:47PM (2 children)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 16 2020, @02:06AM (1 child)
What type drilling mud? WBM, OBM or SBM?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday August 16 2020, @04:36AM
Still remains that it's mostly water and mud with other "biodegradable and environmentally neutral" stuff.