The top story continues to be the toxic waste disaster that is threatening to turn southeastern Ohio and perhaps beyond into a sort of chemical Chernobyl. As bad as the initial derailment and spill of thousands of gallons of vinyl chloride,
somehow the geniuses on the ground who are charged with mitigating the contamination and cleaning up the mess decided to open the valves on the tank cars that had only been derailed and were still sealed . . . and then toss a match to it.
ace.mu.nu
I am a retired engineer having significant experience with pressure vessels and some background with DoT tank regulations. I offer my thoughts based on limited knowledge and a little thinking.
From what I could learn, the contents of the tank(s) were becoming unstable and pressure was increasing. It was feared that the tank would explode and send shrapnel everywhere. So the decision was made to relieve the pressure with a “controlled burn.” This story raises many questions that must be answered.
The first question is, what was causing the pressure to build? Physically there is no difference between a tank sitting on its wheels on a track and a tank lying on its side on the ground. There is nothing about a tank lying on the ground that would cause pressure to build. Was there a fire around the rail cars? I’ve seen nothing indicating that this was the case, nor is it likely there was a wild land fire in the middle of winter in Ohio. How did they know pressure was building? Were they monitoring a pressure gauge on the tank? If so, they were close enough to put out any fire that might be threatening the tank. Furthermore, transport tanks are equipped with a pressure relief valve that would not allow pressure to build enough to burst them. Note: if the contents of a transport tank are so hazardous that they are unsafe to vent via a relief valve, additional requirements are imposed on tank strength and integrity during accidents.
Because rollovers and derailments are expected, hazardous transport tanks are designed to survive them. They are also designed with rollover protection so that fill connections are protected to remain accessible and functional in the case of these accidents. This would have allowed responders to connect to and empty the tanks into alternates such as over-the-road tanks and then hauled away. Why was this approach rejected?
Finally, these tanks are made of ductile material, typically mild carbon steel. They do not eject shrapnel whey they burst. Rather, they split apart with all material remaining contiguously attached. The tank itself might become airborne, but it would not break up into pieces. Why was the governor of Ohio told the tank would produce shrapnel? Even if the shrapnel scenario were true, how would that be more hazardous than releasing tons of hazardous acid and toxic fumes?
As I had stated on Friday, the railroads, like virtually every other aspect of life in general is now regulated out the wah-zoo. There are 74,532 pages of regulations in the Federal Register, all enacted by unelected bureaucrats yet carry the force of civil and criminal penalties. You can bet your balls to a barn door that railroads and how they handle cargo, especially toxic cargo, comprise more than just a handful of those pages. Not just railroads but as the author notes, the construction of the tank cars down to every last nut, bolt, washer and cotter pin.
Perhaps the prime indisputable, inescapable and immutable law of nature is this: SHIT HAPPENS. We get into trouble when we think we have the ability to prevent things from happening just because we pass laws or issue regulations. That is the fatal conceit of Leftists, in that they believe beyond all doubt despite 10,000-plus years of recorded history to the contrary, that they can regulate life to the point of guaranteeing our personal safety. All we have to do in return is give up our freedom. And therein lies another rub in that those who assume that the Left does this merely for altruistic reasons also have not paid attention to what has transpired over that aforementioned time period. Hell, just the past 100 years alone is enough evidence. But I digress.
The author of this essay rightly points out that there are so many safety features designed into these tank cars, which have been transporting and continue to transport millions upon millions of gallons of some of the most toxic substances you can imagine across thousands of miles of railroad track for decades, that even a nasty spill like this should not have gone from a serious incident into a disaster of historic proportions. Something is afoot here. If it's some sort of criminal sabotage that caused the train to jump the track that's bad enough. Equally bad is poor maintenance of the trackage and/or the trucks (wheels) of the cars that derailed. By the way, the evil greedy railroads are required by laws and regulations to inspect and replace wheels and other elements of the rolling stock on a regular basis. And the evil greedy railroads are mostly owned by Democrat-Leftist financial institutions like Blackrock and Vanguard.
So whatever caused the derailment, malfeasance or criminal sabotage/terrorism should, of course, be thoroughly investigated. That said, if it turns out to be the latter, I fully expect a coverup by the DOJ/FBI should it be either the E.L.F. or Isis. Meh, they're probably trying to tie this to some pro-Trump MAGA people as we speak (do I sound jaded?).
But the issue here is the reaction to this. Given all we know about the nature of these tank cars and their general record of safety over the course of decades, whatever accidents and spills that may have occurred in that time frame notwithstanding, how could those charged with mitigating the problem have thought it wise to empty thousands of gallons of safely contained chemicals and then put a match to the whole thing?
There are only two possible reasons I can think of: rank incompetence or intentional criminal malice. That said, more often than not, they go together (like ramma-lamma-lamma). As was noted, East Palestine and its environs voted overwhelmingly for Trump in the past two elections. Is it crazy to believe that someone in the government ordered the people on the ground to do this and that those on the ground without hesitation just followed orders unquestioningly? The chain of command that stretches from D.C. to Columbus and to East Palestine must include dozens or hundreds of people. Surely at least one of them said that torching the tank cars was madness? This entire episode paints a truly frightening picture of human nature, the level of competency of those charged with our safety, on the ground and behind a desk, and worse, pure evil if doing this was an act of political retribution.
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