Houston

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blindpig
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Houston

Post by blindpig » Thu Aug 31, 2017 1:35 pm

Now that the breathless reportage is subsiding with the water we might consider what capitalism has got to do with it all. How has capitalist driven climate change increased the intensity/rainfall of these storms? How did the anarchy of market driven development, in total disregard of environmental constraints make a bad situation much worse? What will be the effect of a major hub of the petrochemical dumping it's effluvia and product in never imagined volume into a major population concentration and the further effect downstream upon a major fishery? How will a government, totally beholden to capital respond?(I think we know that one)

And we might look at how socialism does do it all better.
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Houston

Post by blindpig » Thu Aug 31, 2017 1:43 pm

Venezuela to Donate $5M to Harvey Victims in Texas

Image
Houston residents trudge through floodwaters. | Photo: AFP



Published 30 August 2017


Venezuela has extended its solidarity to the victims of Harvey in Texas and Louisiana.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza has announced that the South American country will be donating US$5 million to help with recovery efforts in areas devastated by Harvey, particularly Houston and Corpus Christi, Texas.

RELATED:
Venezuelan Constituent Assembly Passes Decree Against US Sanctions

"Let's not allow war or threats to be imposed, but instead let's impose solidarity. We will always be with the people of the United States and the peoples of the world in difficult times," Arreaza said.

He explained that President Nicolas Maduro has approved a special program to help the victims in the states of Louisiana and Texas.

The plan was approved by U.S. authorities and the cities' mayors, according to Arreaza.

The diplomat indicated that a percentage of the sales of gas from Citgo will be destined for the construction of houses for the people affected. Citgo is a subsidiary of the Venezuelan state oil company, PDVSA, based in Houston.

Arreaza also said that he will be sending a letter Wednesday to the charge d'affaires at the United States embassy to deliver the construction project, adding that Venezuela has offered rescue workers, doctors, and other specialized personnel to help with the situation on the ground.


President of Citgo Nelson Martinez said the company was "going to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of those affected, with its support plan for construction."

Citgo operations were forced to shut down at its Corpus Christi, Texas facilities, near where Harvey made landfall Friday, but are reportedly on their way to restarting in the next few days.

In an announcement Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a decree imposing new economic sanctions on Venezuela. The latest U.S. sanctions ban trades of Venezuelan debt and prevent PDVSA from selling new bonds to U.S. citizens or financial groups. Trades of existing bonds commissioned by Caracas will also be barred.

Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington D.C., said the new round of sanctions is “severe” and is on a level never seen before, making Trump’s cursory threats of military intervention against the Bolivarian state highly plausible.

The government has said that the sanctions target the Venezuelan people, affecting food and medicine supplies, which has led to international condemnation of the U.S. measures.

The new sanctions come weeks after Trump said that a "military option" has not been ruled out against Venezuela.

https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/ ... -0015.html

And who is on the side of the angels?
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Houston

Post by blindpig » Thu Aug 31, 2017 1:48 pm

Experts Say Climate Change Intensified Hurricane Harvey

Image
Flooded downtown seen from a high rise along Buffalo Bayou after Hurricane Harvey caused widespread flooding, in Houston, August 27 | Photo: Reuters


In a 2016 study on the severity of a tropical cyclone, the authors stated, “Storms are intensifying at a much more rapid pace than they used to 25 years back."
Texas' Hurricane Harvey is surpassing the anticipated fears of scientists, environmentalists and disaster planners alike. The catastrophic hurricane, the most powerful storm to hit Texas in more than 50 years, has so far claimed at least 10 lives and left hundreds stranded.

According to the National Weather Service, parts of Harris County in Texas have received over 30 inches of rain and will increase as the downpour is expected to continue through Wednesday.

Scientists have pinned the catastrophe on a deadly combination of factors, like warm water in the Gulf of Mexico, lack of wind in the upper atmosphere, which may otherwise have guided the storm away from land.

"The wind and storm surge were terrible enough, what you would expect from a Category 4 landfall, but the unprecedented devastation resulted from the fact that Harvey stalled over the region and is still not leaving," Stan Cox, research coordinator at The Land Institute in Salina, Kansas, told teleSUR.

"It continues pulling moisture out of the Gulf and dumping it on land. The rainfall amounts and intensity of flooding distinguish Harvey. The chief damage from Katrina was the levee break. Andrew was a "dry", fast-moving storm, so wind was the biggest factor. This time it's flooding."

The latest research says global warming is one of the major drivers of this trend.

"There seems to be a consensus among climate models that greenhouse warming, while it may not increase the number of tropical cyclones (the generic name for what we call hurricanes in this hemisphere), it will increase their intensity and destructiveness," Cox said.

"No single event can be said to have been "caused" by greenhouse emissions, but I would be comfortable betting that they had something to do with supercharging Harvey into something we haven't seen before," he added.


In a 2016 study on the severity of a tropical cyclone, the authors stated, “Storms are intensifying at a much more rapid pace than they used to 25 years back."

“They are getting stronger more quickly and also (to a) higher category. The intensity, as well as the rate of intensity, is increasing."

Hurricanes “extract heat energy from the ocean to convert it to the power of wind, and the warmer the ocean is, the stronger a hurricane can get if all other conditions that it needs to exist are present,” meteorologist and former hurricane hunter Jeff Masters told Think Progress.

Fredrick Magdoff, Professor emeritus of plant and soil science at the University of Vermont, blamed the over development in the flood-prone area for Texas' unpreparedness for such a cataclysmal disaster and also a major hindrance in managing the disaster.

"The issue is over development, too many buildings, parking lots, and infrastructure, all this construction is ecologically not sustainable. There needs to be sufficient area that can help absorb the rainfall," Magdoff, the author of "What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know About Capitalism," told teleSUR.

"The local governments are not doing enough to enforce stringent measures that will help keep the excessive construction at bay."

A 2016 investigative piece by ProPublica and Texas Tribune about Houston's flood risk, “Boomtown, Flood Town," echoed the same thought, "Unchecked development remains a priority in the famously un-zoned city, creating short-term economic gains for some while increasing flood risks for everyone."

“We’ve done nothing to shore up the coastline, to add resiliency ... to do anything,” Phil Bedient, a Rice University professor who co-directs the Storm Surge Prediction, Education, and Evacuation from Disasters (SSPEED) Center, told ProPublica.

RELATED:
US Authorities Warn of Heavy Flooding in the Wake of Hurricane Harvey

Magdoff also said climate change is playing a key role in exacerbating the weather that in turn has affected the frequency and severity of these storms.

"The air is becoming warmer, causing these intense storms. These once in a 100-year or once in 500-year storms are becoming much more frequent." Magdoff said.

These 100-year and 500-year categories are based on a probability and aren't historic. Natural disasters are described in such terms on the basis of the probability of such floods occurring, which is extremely rare as it has the odds of 500-to-1 in any given year.

Between August 2015 to August 2016, there were eight such 500-year flood events recorded by the National Weather Service in the U.S. The country also saw six “1,000-year” floods over the course of five years from 2010 to 2014. But in 2015 and 2016, there were at least three every year.

Theoretically, the odds of a 1-in-500 event occurring three times in a row are one in 125 million. Similarly, a “100-year” floodplain is considered to have a 1 percent chance of flooding in any given year.

Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, that bases its predictions on such probabilities clearly missed the mark with Hurricane Harvey. A scathing example is a region in West Houston called Memorial City, that wasn't a part of Houston’s 500-year floodplain but flooded three times in the past decade, in 2009, 2015, and 2016.

Apart from Houston, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, also got hit with a 500-year flood in 2008, followed by a 100-year flood in 2016.

"Unfortunately, low-lying regions, which are fairly flat, like the parking lots, highways, the water gets accumulated as there's no escape point," Magdoff also pointe out.

Nearly 7,000 homes were built since 2010 in low-lying areas of the city. Although the Army Corps of Engineers and Harris County partnered to widen the channels and build bridges over the flood-prone Brays Bayou river flowing through Harris County to help reduce the impact of flooding, the city was unable to build new seawall or floodgates due to lack of adequate resources.

Referring to the historic flooding unleashed by Harvey, Cox said, "Our cobbled-together non-system of dealing with disasters – ad hoc emergency declarations, hotly contested, politicized decisions on sending aid, a floundering flood insurance system, economic incentives to rebuild in hazard zones, etc. – is failing."

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/E ... -0027.html
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Houston

Post by blindpig » Thu Aug 31, 2017 2:24 pm

Shell, Exxon say some pollution released as Harvey hit Texas
The Associated Press
Published: August 30, 2017, 1:48 am Updated: August 30, 2017, 3:05 am

Image
Businesses are surrounded by floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey, Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017, in Humble, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

DALLAS (AP) — Pollutants have been released from refineries operated by Exxon, Shell and other companies as torrential rains damaged storage tanks and other industrial facilities on the Texas Coast.

Shell told state regulators this week that a floating roof over a tank at its oil refinery in Deer Park, Texas, partially sank during the heavy rainfall. The company said 100 pounds of benzene and 100 pounds of toluene were released.

A similar event happened at Exxon Mobil Corp.’s refinery in Baytown, Texas. David Gray, a spokesman for the Environmental Protection Agency, said the company reported the release of 15 pounds of benzene. The EPA classifies benzene as a carcinogen. Toluene, a solvent, is less toxic


A Shell spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“This is an unprecedented storm, and we have taken every effort to minimize emissions and safely shut down equipment,” said Exxon spokeswoman Charlotte Huffaker. She said the Irving, Texas-based company was monitoring emission levels and was committed to complying with environmental laws.

Other refinery and chemical plant operators have reported releases due to Harvey, which came ashore as a hurricane but was later downgraded to a tropical storm.

The disclosures highlight the danger posed by flooding in a refinery-rich section of the Gulf Coast that stretches from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Louisiana.

The flooding has caused the shutdown of about 15 percent of the nation’s refining capacity, sending gasoline prices higher.

Gasoline futures rose 6 cents, or 4.1 percent, to $1.78 a gallon in trading Tuesday. Retail prices have gained more slowly — up 4 cents in the last week to $2.38 a gallon, according to auto club AAA.

Earlier Tuesday, Motiva Enterprises said that its refinery in Port Arthur, Texas — the biggest in the nation — had cut output to just 40 percent. Motiva, which is owned by Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil company of Saudi Arabia, said it was dealing with restrictions in the flow of crude oil coming in and products like gasoline going out through pipelines and ports.

A company spokeswoman said there was some water in the plant and local roads were flooded.

The operator of a major pipeline carrying fuel to the East Coast announced it was running at a reduced rate too, compounding pressure on the nation’s energy system.

The Colonial Pipeline operator said Tuesday the reduction was due to limited supply from refiners around Houston and storm damage to its facilities in several southeast Texas locations. The company said it dispatched workers to the region.

http://wkrn.com/2017/08/30/shell-exxon- ... texas/amp/

Colonial is a criminal enterprise, as is any organization driven by profit. Price of gas here(often cheapest place in country due to place on pipeline network) up 15 cents. In the early Sixties, before that job destroying Clean Water Act, Kelsey Creek, whose springhead was adjacent to the Colonial tank farm near my old house and which feeds the lake at nearby Croft St Pk, caught afire. This a residential area. Colonial eagerly awaits a return to the good old days.
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Re: Houston

Post by blindpig » Thu Aug 31, 2017 2:43 pm

Oil refineries in Hurricane Harvey’s path are polluting Latino and low-income neighborhoods

Image
When refineries shut down, they typically emit far more toxins than normal. (REUTERS/Nick Oxford)

WRITTEN BY
Zoë Schlanger
August 30, 2017

Oil refineries and chemical plants are 24-hour operations. They’re not designed to be turned off. But when a hurricane barreled through the refinery and chemical plant capital of the United States, many didn’t have a choice.

When refineries are forced to shut down—as were at least 11 along the Texas coast and the greater Houston area, due to Hurricane Harvey—they often release far greater volumes of toxic air pollution than the normal legal limits would allow. In industry parlance, these pollution spikes are called “exceptional events.” The excess pollution is considered an emergency necessity to prevent worse outcomes, like an explosion, so plants are exempt from fines they would ordinarily pay for exceeding their legal pollution limits.
In Texas, residents who live near plants closing down due to Harvey watched as they began flaring off their excess chemicals. Almost half of the country’s petroleum and natural gas refining capacity sits along the Gulf Coast, and Houston, 30 miles inland, is home to the largest refining petrochemical production complex in the country. Around 16% of US refining capacity has been interrupted by the storm.

Air quality monitors in Houston, where much of the excess pollution is taking place, have been shut off during Harvey, as The New Republic’s Emily Atkin reported:

(Twitter screen shots at link)

Thankfully, according to Daniel Cohan, an associate professor of environmental engineering at Rice University who specializes in air pollution, the storm will likely prevent common forms of excess pollution, like particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides from sticking around long; For example, any excess nitrogen oxides probably won’t have a chance to form into harmful smog, because “you need heat to cook that up,” says Cohan, and the weather is still stormy.

Other pollutants, like particulate matter, will likely be disbursed quickly: “Fortunately it is happening at a time when it’s been raining nonstop. With that rain, you’ve got turbulence—it won’t be sitting stagnant in one place. And you also have a lot of people who can’t go outdoors. That would lessen the exposures,” Cohan says. “If there was ever a time to have these releases, this is [it].”
But he is concerned about other types of air toxics reaching the neighborhoods closest to the plants, and which have been exposed to high levels of pollution for years. Residents in the largely Latino communities that live in Houston’s East End, closest to the industrial complexes where a large portion of the nation’s refinery activity takes place, reported “unbearable” petrochemical smells drifting into their neighborhoods during Harvey. These neighborhoods, sometimes within a mile of refineries’ perimeter fences, have long faced “more exposure to air toxics than almost anywhere in the country,” Cohan says. Household income in the area is well below the city average.
“We know that we have elevated levels of cancers all along these areas. There have been many reports to show increased rates of childhood leukemia if you live within two miles of the Houston ship channel, for example,” Juan Parras, the director of the grassroots environmental justice group TEJAS, said in an interview with Democracy Now.
Many of these neighborhoods are under several feet of water right now. “Fenceline communities can’t leave or evacuate so they are literally getting gassed by these chemicals,” Bryan Parras, also of TEJAS, told The New Republic.

Records filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality show ExxonMobil shut down two of its refineries due to heavy rains; it made the decision to close its Baytown refinery, the second largest in the country, after a floating roof covering an oil tank sank in the floods. When Baytown was shut down, it released about double the amount of volatile organic compounds—a broad category of air toxics—than its permit normally allows. Shell shut down its Deer Park refinery, releasing excess benzene, a cancer-causing toxin, as well as toluene and xylene, both neurotoxins, in the process.
Many chemical plants in the area faced a similar situation; Dow Chemical’s major operation in Freeport, Texas, on the Gulf Coast about 70 miles south of Houston, shut down after being struck by lightning during Harvey, according to its regulatory filing. It released toxins including benzene, hexane, and toluene far in excess of its permits. About 20 miles south of Houston, Equistar Chemicals’ sprawling Channelview complex lost power during Harvey, forcing it to flare off excess gasses—releasing carbon monoxide, ethylene gas, and a host of other air toxics not typically covered by its permit in the process.
Water pollution from some facilities is also spiking: BASF’s Beaumont Agro plant, which produces agricultural chemicals, notes in an “exceptional event” filing that its toxin-laden waste water “will continue to overflow to the ground until the rain stops.”
Meanwhile, several Superfund sites—areas designated the most toxic in the country—threaten to contaminate the floodwaters too. Harris County, the seat of Houston, has more Superfund sites of any county in Texas. As people wade into flood waters, experts are concerned about exposure.
Up the road from the Brio Refinery Superfund site in Harris County, where ethylbenzene, chlorinated hydrocarbons, and other chemical compounds were once pooled in pits, nearby retention ponds turned into swimming holes. “Yesterday as these large retention ponds filled up, eight feet deep in places, kids were swimming in them, and that’s not good,” Wes Highfield, a scientist at Texas A&M University-Galveston, told the Washington Post.
The San Jacinto River Waste Pits Superfund site, also in Harris County, is known to the Army Corps of Engineers to be likely to flood during storm surges. According to Juan Parras of TEJAS, the pits, contaminated with the toxic chemical dioxin left behind from an old paper mill, are completely underwater right now.
“Each time we have a rain event, this contamination is being spread into more communities, homes, neighborhoods, and further exposing more and more people,” Parras told Democracy Now.

Image
Houston’s flooding shows what happens when you ignore science and let developers run rampant

https://qz.com/1066097/hurricane-harvey ... hborhoods/
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Re: Houston

Post by blindpig » Thu Aug 31, 2017 2:47 pm

Explosions and Smoke Reported at Arkema Inc. Crosby Plant

08/31/2017 - Short news
PRODUCTS
At approximately 2 a.m. CDT, we were notified by the Harris County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) of two explosions and black smoke coming from the Arkema Inc. plant in Crosby, Texas. Local officials had previously established an evacuation zone in an area 1.5 miles from our plant, based on their assessment of the situation.
We continue to work closely with federal, state and local authorities to manage the situation.

As we communicated in recent days, our site followed its hurricane preparation plan in advance of the recent hurricane and we had redundant contingency plans in place. However, unprecedented flooding overwhelmed our primary power and two sources of emergency backup power. As a result, we lost critical refrigeration of the products on site. Some of our organic peroxides products burn if not stored at low temperature.

We have been working closely with public officials to manage the implications of this situation, and have communicated with the public the potential for product to explode and cause an intense fire. Organic peroxides are extremely flammable and, as agreed with public officials, the best course of action is to let the fire burn itself out.
We want local residents to be aware that product is stored in multiple locations on the site, and a threat of additional explosion remains. Please do not return to the area within the evacuation zone until local emergency response authorities announce it is safe to do so.

Organic peroxides are a family of compounds that are used in a wide range of applications, such as making pharmaceuticals and construction materials.

https://www.arkema.com/en/media/news/ne ... 1241b47c7a
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Re: Houston

Post by blindpig » Thu Aug 31, 2017 3:13 pm

Hurricane Harvey: Two explosions at Arkema chemical plant near Houston, injuries reported
Published time: 31 Aug, 2017 09:20
Edited time: 31 Aug, 2017 14:42

Hurricane Harvey: Two explosions at Arkema chemical plant near Houston, injuries reported

Image
Emergency vehicles wait at a roadblock after a chemical plant operated by the Arkema Group had an explosion during the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey on August 31, 2017 in Crosby, Texas. © Brendan Smialowski / AFP

Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Texas has confirmed that two explosions have occurred at the site. People have been taken to the hospital, according to emergency workers, cited by local media.
“At approximately 2 a.m. CDT, we were notified by the Harris County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) of two explosions and black smoke coming from the Arkema Inc. plant in Crosby, Texas,” Arkema wrote in a statement.

The statement goes on to say that although the plant followed hurricane preparation protocol, “unprecedented flooding overwhelmed our primary power and two sources of emergency backup power. As a result, we lost critical refrigeration of the products on site. Some of our organic peroxides products burn if not stored at low temperature.”

“Organic peroxides are extremely flammable and, as agreed with public officials, the best course of action is to let the fire burn itself out,” the statement reads.

Arkema says it is working “closely with federal, state and local authorities to manage the situation.”

However, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez stressed during a press conference that "it wasn't an explosion, I want to be very clear, it was not an explosion..."

He instead explained the incident as a series of "pops."

"There were different organic peroxides of different grades that were released and it created a pop in the containers where they were being stored and some gray smoke initially emanated from it and eventually turned into black smoke" after a fire began.

Gonzalez went on to state that it is "not anything toxic, it is not anything that we feel is a danger to the community at all..."

The "pops" occurred inside one of nine box trucks at the site, according to Bob Royall, an assistant chief with the Harris County Fire Marshal's Office.

"There are nine vans. Of the nine, three had lost refrigeration to keep them cool. the other ones are still under refrigeration," he said, adding that the chemicals are "in containers in cardboard boxes inside the vans."

Read more
© Jessica Rinaldi Texas air pollution sensors switched off as refineries seep toxic chemicals into air & water
The operator of the plant has confirmed that up to eight more containers could burn and explode, according to AP.

Meanwhile, Royall has said the incident is playing out as expected.

"Right now everything is going according to what we thought was going to happen so far. We are in a defensive posture, the fire department is out there on the scene, there is air monitoring being deployed by a contractor by the company to try to find out and watch and see where the smoke might go..." he said.

A sheriff’s deputy was among those taken to the hospital after inhaling fumes, according to a tweet from the Harris County Sheriff’s Office. Nine other deputies drove themselves to the hospital as a precaution.

"We had a number of deputies out there that were maintaining the perimeter. As a precaution, they were taken to a nearby hospital for testing..." Gonzalez said.

Rachel Moreno, a spokeswoman for the county fire marshal’s office, said it is unclear whether all residents obeyed the evacuation order for the 1.5 mile radius of the plant, adding that the office has received an unconfirmed report of a woman who may still be in the evacuation zone.

An Arkema spokesperson stated late Wednesday that a fire at the site was inevitable.

“The fire will happen. It will resemble a gasoline fire. It will be explosive and intense in nature... as the temperature rises, the natural state of these materials will decompose. A white smoke will result, and that will catch fire. So the fire is imminent. The question is when,” spokesperson Janet Smith said.

The plant makes organic peroxides used in the production of plastic resins, polystyrene, paints, and other products.

Organic peroxides are "relatively unstable compounds which can decompose spontaneously and sometimes explosively,"according to Arkema's Luperox website. They are "generally flammable and burn vigorously."

When such compounds reach a temperature above the SADT (Self Accelerating Decomposition Temperature) the reaction becomes "uncontrolled and violent."

https://www.rt.com/usa/401541-arkema-ch ... explosion/
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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Re: Houston

Post by kidoftheblackhole » Thu Aug 31, 2017 7:00 pm

blindpig wrote:
Thu Aug 31, 2017 1:35 pm
Now that the breathless reportage is subsiding with the water we might consider what capitalism has got to do with it all. How has capitalist driven climate change increased the intensity/rainfall of these storms? How did the anarchy of market driven development, in total disregard of environmental constraints make a bad situation much worse? What will be the effect of a major hub of the petrochemical dumping it's effluvia and product in never imagined volume into a major population concentration and the further effect downstream upon a major fishery? How will a government, totally beholden to capital respond?(I think we know that one)

And we might look at how socialism does do it all better.
I don't know. What I do know is Class, Class, Class (and, consequently, race).

Need a lot more stuff like this:

http://www.theroot.com/race-and-class-a ... 1798536183

(regardless if we agree with every point)

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Re: Houston

Post by kidoftheblackhole » Thu Aug 31, 2017 7:15 pm

And who is on the side of the angels?
Like we talked about once or twice, the only angel worth anything is St Michael the Archangel (the only angel who is also a saint). And Michael is an Avenger (hes only missing the spandex).

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Re: Houston

Post by blindpig » Thu Aug 31, 2017 7:46 pm

kidoftheblackhole wrote:
Thu Aug 31, 2017 7:00 pm
blindpig wrote:
Thu Aug 31, 2017 1:35 pm
Now that the breathless reportage is subsiding with the water we might consider what capitalism has got to do with it all. How has capitalist driven climate change increased the intensity/rainfall of these storms? How did the anarchy of market driven development, in total disregard of environmental constraints make a bad situation much worse? What will be the effect of a major hub of the petrochemical dumping it's effluvia and product in never imagined volume into a major population concentration and the further effect downstream upon a major fishery? How will a government, totally beholden to capital respond?(I think we know that one)

And we might look at how socialism does do it all better.
I don't know. What I do know is Class, Class, Class (and race).

Need a lot more stuff like this:

http://www.theroot.com/race-and-class-a ... 1798536183

(regardless if we agree with every point)
Oh yeah, that's the "How will a government, totally beholden to capital respond?(I think we know that one)" part. Katrina/New Orleans pretty much wrote the playbook: ethnic cleansing, urban renewal, disappearing the dead, gentrification, more jerrymandering. I think there's a pattern here....
Even as those working class white guys do their thing to the delight of the cameras and mythologisers a 'silver lining' is being devised, never miss an opportunity.

And of course there's the matter of so many of these plants being in communities of color, what a coincidence.

Wonder how many displaced('cleansed') by the post Katrina will be made to move again?
"There is great chaos under heaven; the situation is excellent."

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