Related: Slow Saturday Special: Power Surge
Another Deja Fu.
"Nuclear dump fire preventable, report says" by Jeri Clausing | Associated Press March 15, 2014
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Federal investigators have uncovered a series of shortcomings in safety training, emergency response, and oversight at the troubled southeastern New Mexico nuclear waste dump where a truck caught fire.
A report released Friday on the investigation into the first of back-to-back accidents at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad says a Feb. 5 truck blaze apparently was ignited by a buildup of oil and other combustible materials that should have been regularly cleaned off the vehicle. The truck also was operating without an automatic fire suppression system, the Department of Energy report said.
And in one of several mistakes made in the chaotic moments that followed, the filtration systems in the mine a half-mile underground were switched, sending smoke billowing into areas where workers expected to have ‘‘good air.’’
The report also identified problems with safety culture at the federal government’s only permanent repository for waste from the nation’s nuclear bomb-building facilities, and it said a series of repeat deficiencies identified by an independent oversight board had gone unresolved.
Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico called the report ‘‘deeply disturbing.’’
‘‘Fortunately, no one was hurt,’’ the Democrats said in a joint statement.
‘‘The community of Carlsbad and the nation expect WIPP to operate with the highest level of safety. The board has identified a number of serious safety concerns that will need to be fully addressed.”
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Related:
"In Fukushima, reconstruction has lagged further behind in some areas because of the nuclear disaster. Several towns are still off-limits due to high radiation, and disaster-hit houses remain untouched. The plant has stabilized substantially, but is still plagued by frequent leaks of radioactive water and other mishaps, triggering concern about whether it’s really under control."
Where is Caroline Kennedy as 300 tons of radioactive water are dumped into the sea every day, day after day?
The last thing I want to smell at this point is fart mist.
"All-night climate session set for Senate" Associated Press, March 11, 2014
WASHINGTON — Democrats took to the Senate floor Monday night to talk about global warming and planned not to let up until morning.
Tell it to Detroit.
At least 28 senators were expected to participate in the dusk-to-dawn event, which was led off by the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada.
Several Democrats who face tough reelection fights in the fall planned to skip it. Democratic leaders have no plans to bring a climate bill to the Senate floor this year, so the speeches were about little more than theatrics....
In addition to adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere!
Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii, one of the organizers, said the all-night session showed that a growing number of senators are committed to working together to confront climate change.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, said the session was needed to highlight obstacles to climate legislation, including advertisements financed by Charles and David Koch, conservative activists who have spent $15 million on Senate races.
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The Gulf is soaked with oil and corexit, the Pacific is radioactive, our air, water, and soil is poisoned and polluted, the food is unsafe, and yet they are down their freezing their asses off worrying about global warming?
"All-night talk on climate in Senate" by Matthew Daly and Donna Cassata | Associated Press March 12, 2014
WASHINGTON — Democratic senators clocked an all-nighter, working in shifts into Tuesday morning to warn of devastation from climate change and the danger of inaction.
SIGH! Sorry for the expelling of greenhouse gas.
Addressing a nearly empty chamber and visitor gallery, more than two dozen speakers agreed with one another about the need to act on climate change. Naysayers — Republicans — largely stayed away, arguing hours earlier that regulation would cost Americans jobs in a sluggish economy.
I don't like the either/or, but....
The talk-a-thon ended at 8:55 a.m., almost 15 hours after it began. It was the 35th all-night session since 1915, according to the Senate....
Hawaii’s Brian Schatz said, ‘‘Climate change is real, it is caused by humans, and it is solvable.’’
It's not real -- as evidenced by the winters we have had -- and even if it were, it is not caused by humans. It's the sun that has the greatest impact.
He ought to know that.
Republicans challenged Democrats to bring legislation to the floor to address the problem -- secure in the knowledge they will not.
‘‘Bring up the carbon tax bill. Put it on the agenda. Let’s debate it,’’ said Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. He noted that Democrats failed to pass similar legislation in 2009-2010, when they controlled the 60 Senate seats necessary to overcome any Republican blocking tactics.
See: The Grimes Against Mitch McConnell
In Schatz’s view, the debate, such as it was, showed that a growing number of senators are committed to working together on climate change, even if no Republicans were among them. ‘‘This is where intractable, longstanding issues get solved,’’ he said of the Senate.
Despite that bravado, Democratic leaders made it clear they have no plans to bring a climate bill to the Senate floor this year.
Indeed, the issue is so politically charged that a host of Democrats who face tough reelection fights in the fall opted to skip the session.
Senators Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Mark Begich of Alaska, and Kay Hagan of North Carolina were among Democrats who stayed away.
Senator James Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma, said Democrats who showed up were not convincing anyone with their tactic....
McConnell suggested the Democrats’ motivation was campaign money — Tom Steyer’s money.
‘‘It’s cruel to tell struggling coal families that they can’t have a job because some billionaire from San Francisco disagrees with their line of work,’’ McConnell said.
Just don't let the ash get into the water.
He was referring to Steyer, a former hedge-fund manager and environmentalist who says he will spend $100 million — $50 million of his own money and $50 million from other donors — to make climate change a top-tier issue in the 2014 elections.
Is that what is at the bottom of the i$$ue?
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Related:
"PIPELINE PROTEST -- Police in Philadelphia seized a protester who was blocking a door to a federal building Monday. The protesters were demonstrating against the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline, which they say would add to global warming (Boston Globe March 11 2014)."
They get too many photographs in my printed pos.
Besides, we need more pipelines from what I'm seeing.
"Natural gas sector suffers growth pains; Infrastructure, weather woes bedevil industry" by Jonathan Fahey | Associated Press, March 11, 2014
HOUSTON — America’s plan to use more natural gas to run power plants, make chemicals, drive vehicles, and heat homes may not go as smoothly as expected.
There’s plenty of natural gas in the ground. But the harsh winter showed there are obstacles to producing it, and more pipelines have to be built.
Not to fart-mi$ters it didn't!
Bitter cold boosted demand for natural gas to heat homes and businesses. But wells in some places froze. And high demand clogged pipelines, so even when there was enough production, the gas couldn’t get to its destination.
Shortages cropped up, and prices in some places soared to record levels. Californians and Texans were asked to reduce power consumption because utilities were running low on gas to run power plants. Montana State University in Billings had to cancel classes for a day because of a natural gas shortage.
‘‘We struggled to get the supply there as quickly as we needed,’’ Colin Parfitt, who runs Chevron’s global trading operations, said last week. ‘‘It’s a reminder there will be volatility in our market.’’
The problems came as a shock because the gas market was thought to have escaped the volatility of the past. Drillers have discovered enormous reserves, production is at record levels, and prices had been relatively steady.
Based on that, the nation has geared up to use more natural gas. Utilities are switching away from coal and nuclear power, chemical companies that use natural gas as a feedstock have reopened old plants and are planning new ones, export facilities are being built, and trucks and locomotives are beginning a switch to natural gas....
Now there is concern about whether the industry can produce all of the gas needed and deliver it through an inadequate pipeline system....
See the push for pipelines?
Drillers have suffered significant losses in recent years because of persistently low prices....
WTF are they talking about!!!!??
Retail prices are still far below where they were in the early and middle 2000s. But....
But what!??!
It would be the first increase in residential prices since 2008.
But drilling companies aren’t convinced that higher natural gas prices will last.
The industry also has to build pipelines....
Then you can plug the leaks rather than put out fires.
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Back to the nukes:
"Nonlaunch staff saved nuclear missile operators from failure last spring" by Robert Burns | Associated Press March 15, 2014
WASHINGTON — Failings last spring by nuclear missile operators at an Air Force base in North Dakota were worse than first reported, according to documents obtained by the Associated Press.
Airmen responsible for missile operations at Minot Air Force Base would have failed their part of a major inspection in March 2013 but managed a ‘‘marginal’’ rating because their poor marks were blended with the better performance of support staff — like cooks and facilities managers — and they got a boost from the base’s highly-rated training program.
The ‘‘marginal’’ rating, the equivalent of a ‘‘D’’ in school, was reported previously. Now, details of the low performance by the launch officers, or missileers, entrusted with the keys to missiles have been revealed. ‘‘Missileer technical proficiency substandard,’’ one Air Force briefing slide says. ‘‘Remainder [of missile operations team] raised grade to marginal.’’
The documents also hint at an exam-cheating problem in the making among launch crews at Minot, almost a full year before allegations of widespread cheating erupted this January at a companion nuclear base in Montana.
An official inquiry into the troubled inspection of the 91st Missile Wing at Minot in March 2013 concluded that one root cause was poor use of routine testing and other means of measuring the proficiency of launch crews in their assigned tasks. For example, commanders at Minot did not ensure that monthly written tests were supervised. The analysis also said Minot senior leaders failed to foster a ‘‘culture of accountability’’ and that midlevel leadership posts were left unfilled.
In a more direct hint at fudging on exams, one document said, ‘‘ ‘Group testing’ was viewed as ‘taking care of each other,’ ’’ while adding that the missileers felt pressure to score 100 percent on every test.
Those are echoes of explanations Air Force leaders have recounted from launch officers in the aftermath of a cheating scandal that surfaced in early January at the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont.
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Related: This Post a Purge
So when is the nuclear false flag?
