2 HAZMAT Events Possibly Linked?

I would not have brought this up for consideration however I found it disturbing that 2 seperate events in the U.S. have been found to be caused by "Stolen Valves".

*Both occured on 5-7-08
*Both created dangers to water supplies.
*Both serious enough for emergency protocol's to be emplemented for cleanup.

In California:

Dozens of fish and two birds have been found dead after a toxic solvent that leaked from a chemical plant reached the waters of San Pablo Bay. Officials say more than 3,000 gallons of the solvent toluene (TOH-leen) was released from the plant over the weekend after thieves stripped critical valves from factory equipment.[quote/]

On the opposite side of the country in New Hampshire:

The material was flowing from the rear discharge valves of the tanker truck, he said. The truck appeared abandoned and had probably been at the side of the road since the later part of the afternoon, Hempel said. There was no identification on the cab or tanks, he said.)[quote/]



visz.rsoe.hu...

[edit on 7-5-2008 by antar]

[edit on 7-5-2008 by antar]

The situation in California was complicated by the fact that the company did not attempt to go by the stated procol's for this type os situation, instead they decided to call in a private service to do the cleanup for them.

I have to wonder how often this is attempted and just exactly where these private companies working under the shadows of the EPA take this type of cleanup materials?

How many of these types in situations happen and go unnoticed?

query.nytimes.com...

"When undercover detectives, posing as illegal dumpers, went into the business of disposing of toxic waste from small businesses for $40 a barrel, no questions asked, they found the competition so fierce that they had to lower their price, officials said."

This is serious BIG business?

County officials say that more often than not, illegally dumped barrels of toxic wastes, from acetone to cyanide, wind up abandoned along highways and in vacant lots and buildings, endangering the public and the fragile underground water reserves that are the sole source of drinking water on Long Island.

This is an incredible eye opener for me, I had no idea that these companies if caught pay a mere 100,000 dollar fine, it is well worth it I guess when they can have these barrels hauled off for 450 dollars instead.

It would be worth it I suppose if you were a criminal minded big business exploiting our precious enviroment for the sake of a buck.

Why dont the legistrators lower the price of hauling off these materials to avoid this kind of trouble?

But then I guess the big problem arises, 'where to put it all'?
There are not enough dumping places to take it all. And the mentality of people who will haul off a toxic barrel for 40 dollars, probably do not care about where they dump it.

Is this part of why we are loosing our prescious aquatic animals and life? Why rivers and streams are no longer able to sustain life?

WTH is happening here and how will it all end?

The terms sabatoge and bioterror come to mind. My opinion, but, I think it will be up to everyday people to stop the onslaught that is starting to occur. Everyone is looking for a "big bang event" when it may be a small ripple that brings America to its knees. I have noticed patterns occuring and it is good you pointed this one out.

reply to post by antar

There are not enough dumping places to take it all.

There are thousands of uncontrolled dump sites. This has been going on for a very long time. Also, before the laws were on the books to prevent this sort of thing there were dumps sites that were never cleaned up. I think that is the reason for the "do it yourself soil test kits". You never know what is in your own backyard.

And yet another in Canada?

A broken nozzle on a fuel tank allowed nearly 10,000 litres of diesel to pour onto frozen Trout Lake in southwestern Northwest Territories. The diesel poured out of the local power station's fuel tanks, spilling into drainage ditches around the community of Trout Lake and onto the frozen lake of the same name.

hisz.rsoe.hu...


This is just to much of a coincidence.

Without awareness these toxic dumps will continue to grow.

America’s Nastiest Toxic Waste Dumps (And Whether Or Not You Live Near One)

www.mentalfloss.com...


Pollution Locator:

Find out if there is a toxic waste area near you.
www.scorecard.org...

Scorecard.org is one of those sites you will want to save to your favorites as it is chalked full of information and possible solution's.
I especially liked the links to the various other information networks.

One thing for certain more awareness needs to be raised. I was just not looking at these issues, it was much easier to turn my head I suppose.

[edit on 7-5-2008 by antar]

This problem is so old I think people have fallen asleep on it. That is until someone gets sick and it comes up again. Or someone gets sued and they clean up a few and put the problem on the back burner again. Instead of raising the cigarette tax they should tax the toxic producers of this stuff. When they outlawed lead paint they didn't tell people it could leech into their soil. All the water is recycled, with all the viruses, superbugs and uncurable diseases bleached out. Ha! If I think about it I would never drink water. The following provides some details the EPA would rather you did not know about. If the law passed in 1980 and it is now 2008 which equals 28 years could somebody please tell me why it is not cleaned up by now.

The 114 sites are among 1,623 dangerously toxic areas currently or formerly included or proposed for action by Superfund, a law passed in 1980 to identify and supervise the cleanup of America's most toxic and polluted areas.

www.publicintegrity.org...

I can address two of the things mentioned: the abandoned tanker is very suspicious. No HazMat load is allowed to be left unattended along a roadside, and can only be parked there if loading/unloading or in case of a breakdown (serious enough to make moving it impossible). Also, there is no way they could not locate the driver; the truck should have had a base plate and did have a VIN number - both of which can be easily traced by the state DOT. It should also have a USDOT number on the side, which can also be traced.

Should any of these things be missing, I cannot believe the truck could be driven for any length of time without being stopped by someone. I would be stopped withi 5 miles, by the first police car I encountered, should anything that obvious be missing. I am assuming it had placards since it was identified as HazMat, and that alone is like a neon sign on top saying "harass me!"

I'm not a bit surprised that companies are getting away with murder when it comes to HazMat materials (pun intended). Any driver with HazMat certification knows to check and double-check each load for shipper error and non-compliance. If a driver accepts a load from a shipper, the tickets/fines/sentences go to the driver and the company he drives for (sometimes one and the same). No action is taken against the shipper. I already know one team who just a few months back left their company. They were assigned a HazMat load, and the shipper had flammable (Class 2), Oxidizers (Class 2.X), and Corrosive (Class 5) on the same trailer, improperly packaged, and improperly placarded. Their dispatcher told them to accept the load anyway, opening them up to serious fines (upwards of $10,000) and imprisonment. They refused the load and quit.

This happens regularly. The HazMat regs are a big joke, designed to get drivers' hard-earned cash for background checks and endorsement fees. Oh, and if you ever order something that is considered HazMat (like ammonia) and pay the HazMat fee, be aware that in most cases, the driver hauling it gets none of that fee. The brokers and truck companies, who pay little or nothing for the privilege of hauling it, get all the fee.

TheRedneck

Theres one very large thing you folks are missing here. The article says the 'critical valves had been stolen". Untill recently I worked for a metal salvage outfit here. We get stolen non-ferous metals all the time. At least 2 people a week get arrested with stolen metal at our place alone. Go take a look at what prices are for metals today. This problem is nationwide. You can't leave a new building without full time security or you loose every bit of metal from it. Two men just got 5 years for stealing High content nickel rings weighing 2 tons each from P&W aircraft here. This company started the problem and the companies are paying by getting caught. Trying to circumvent the EPA will get you everytime.

[edit on 5/8/2008 by ZindoDoone]

It also could be terrorist doing a test run and monitoring the response time. I don't think they are going by the law as far as paperwork is concerned. I think we are already under siege and Americans are too dumb and or preoccupied to notice.

Listed below is another valve error, this one in China. Does the term global make the picture clearer.

Investigators said a damaged container valve along with an operational error by workers at the plant were to blame for the incident, the report said, adding that the factory dumped sand on its floor to cover the phosphorus trichloride, according to the report.

visz.rsoe.hu...

FEMA has info on what to do if it should happen near you.

What to do During a Hazardous Materials Incident

www.fema.gov...

[edit on 8-5-2008 by Siren]

reply to post by ZindoDoone

Oh, good point! The place I was driving a dump for about a year ago had one asphalt plant completely destroyed by a thief. They stripped every piece of copper wire out of the thing, from the main electrical entrance to the computer cables. The last I heard, it cost over $10K to put all the wires back in.

No idea how much the thieves got for the copper, but those were some BIG wires...

TheRedneck