Chemical Cloud Moving Toward Houston

I was trying to find anything interesting on Nalco's website (www.nalco.com...that might indicate any potential chemical that could've been released; couldn't find anything major.

Definitely do a fair amount of work in chemicals, but I'm sure that's no surprise at all.

They recently (12/14) hooked up with Argonne National Laboratory for a water management program for coal based power plants. Don't know if that means anything or not; probably not. (You can find the story from their home page.)

January 8, 2007 -- The environmental "surge" you're not hearing anything about.

According to U.S. maritime industry sources, tanker captains are reporting an increase in onboard alarms from hazard sensors designed to detect hydrocarbon gas leaks and, specifically, methane leaks. However, the leaks are not emanating from cargo holds or pump rooms but from continental shelves venting increasing amounts of trapped methane into the atmosphere. With rising ocean temperatures, methane is increasingly escaping from deep ocean floors. Methane is also 21 more times capable of trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.

In fact, one of the major sources for increased methane venting is the Hudson Submarine Canyon, which extends 400 miles into the Atlantic from the New York-New Jersey harbor. Another location experiencing increased venting is the Santa Barbara Channel on the California coast.[/exe]

It's from other threat..worth to consider !

[edit on 8-1-2007 by Cybernative]

Growing up in Texas and spending a lot of time in the Houston area; I am surprised that this doesn't happen more often. It seems as though the whole Gulf Coast in Texas is one big chemical plant. I dread the day that one cigarette too may is tossed aside in Houston and the whole Gulf Coast goes up in flames.

All joking aside; it doesn't seem reasonable at this point that the Houston and Austin cases are related. The two cities are about 170 miles apart (Sugarland is near Houston), and the winds over the last day have not been in favor of these two events being related.

Originally posted by Cybernative

January 8, 2007 -- The environmental "surge" you're not hearing anything about.

According to U.S. maritime industry sources, tanker captains are reporting an increase in onboard alarms from hazard sensors designed to detect hydrocarbon gas leaks and, specifically, methane leaks. However, the leaks are not emanating from cargo holds or pump rooms but from continental shelves venting increasing amounts of trapped methane into the atmosphere. With rising ocean temperatures, methane is increasingly escaping from deep ocean floors. Methane is also 21 more times capable of trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.

In fact, one of the major sources for increased methane venting is the Hudson Submarine Canyon, which extends 400 miles into the Atlantic from the New York-New Jersey harbor. Another location experiencing increased venting is the Santa Barbara Channel on the California coast.[/exe]

It's from other threat..worth to consider !

[edit on 8-1-2007 by Cybernative]

Were did this source come from? Do you have a link for it? Maybe the smell in NYC today is related.
Thanks

[edit on 8-1-2007 by NJStomp]

It was from another thread here in this forum and i asked him to send me a link in U2U but didn't respond !!

They are referring to it as a "World Fire" on my local radio station here in Ft Walton Beach ,Florida. I have not been able to find anything on-line as of yet but I'm still searching.

I checked the website for one of the Houston television stations and noted that the 'shelter-in-place' order for Sugarland schools has been lifted. The source of the chemical leak was a tank at the plant mentioned on an earlier post. This tanker was leaking ethylene diamine, which is used in paints and coolants; and is also used as a food and cattle feed additive (interesting mix of uses).

There is a fire in Helotes, TX...but it's been buring for a while.

Story here: abclocal.go.com...

Not sure it's related, though.

Regards-
Aimless

Odd.

But alot of these incidents just simply aren't making the major news outlets? Odd indeed.

The supposedly non issue Miami incident yesterday got loads of coverage on FOX, and now there has been C4 confirmed allegedly, Fox doesn't wanna know?

EDIT-

Fox is now reporting all clear in Sugar Land.

What are the bets on something happening and its just gets brush under the carpet, only for it to be the real deal, thus making the problem worse?

[edit on 8-1-2007 by Peyres]

Thought this was interesting.
Why stay inside ?

Don't know... in my opinion It would be clearly a Threat if people would start going unconscious under the cloud (a bit like the Bhopal incident)

like that... it doesnt seem to have any effect...

But still I agree with the person that said: Why the hell stay inside

Cybernative, If you're suggesting a link to the odors detected in NYC today, I just wanted to point out that methane is odorless. Very interesting article however.

Originally posted by Dr Love
Well, I work in Sugar Land and all I see is smog. Nothing smells at all.

Peace

Why is it no surprise that Dr Love works in Sugar Land.

The birds may have flown through the cloud and succumbed further along on their journey?

Maybe this is all one big distraction to entertain people while something allot more serious goes on in the world

Thanks Cyber. If you ever find out what the link is please pass it my way to. I am very interested in reading about this. It almost sounds like "Methane Burps". Supposedly they almost wiped out all life on the planet some 250 millions years ago.

I would also love to see some pics.
anybody have a good link???

I am/was a chemist, so I can shed a little light on Ethylene Diamine (EDA).

EDA is only dangerous in large and concentrated qualities. So unless you are at the site of the spill and are sucking on the whole in the pipe or tank that is holding the stuff, you should not have to worry. It is a cousin of Ethylene Diamine Tetra acetic acid (EDTA) which shares many of EDA's. EDTA is used to treat lead poisoning, so it cannot be all that bad if it used to treat poisoning.

EDA is what we chemists call a chelating agent. Chelating agents form chemical bonds with metal atoms, which makes them useful in a wide variety of uses. For example, EDTA is used to treat lead poisoning by neutralizing lead in the body by forming strong chemical bonds with lead atoms. A use of EDA I was familiar with was its use in cleaning metals by helping to dissolve residues on metals that contained metal ions. EDA and EDTA are also excellent at cleaning soap scum because they form bonds with calcium and magnesium atoms that make up part of what soap scum is, so you should only buy a shower cleaner if it contains these ingredients.

Originally posted by darkbluesky
Cybernative, If you're suggesting a link to the odors detected in NYC today, I just wanted to point out that methane is odorless. Very interesting article however.

Ty for your omment darkBluSky...I will keep it in mind...may your skies be more and more DarkBlue !!!lol

Originally posted by Cybernative

Originally posted by darkbluesky
Cybernative, If you're suggesting a link to the odors detected in NYC today, I just wanted to point out that methane is odorless. Very interesting article however.

Ty for your omment darkBluSky...I will keep it in mind...may your skies be more and more DarkBlue !!!lol

Cyber, found the link I was asking you for. Thanks anyways.
www.waynemadsenreport.com...
From the link
"Although methane is odorless, natural methane venting is often accompanied by the venting of acrid hydrogen sulfide, a byproduct of bacterial decomposition".
The smell here in NYC was more of a rotting fruit smell more then gas to me atleast.


[edit on 8-1-2007 by NJStomp]

The chemical can burn skin and eyes. And if you are exposed to it long enough it can damage your lungs and liver. Scary stuff.