Professional Documents
Culture Documents
CI Boom 0 Thru 1999
CI Boom 0 Thru 1999
2/19/2014 11:59:39 PM
CI Boom thru 1999 tracks critical infrastructure disasters, split into smaller, digestible time
line chunks. Whats doable to mitigate such incidents are in my main related analysis document.1 Last updated 2014 Feb 18
Version 1.43
Table of Contents, thru level 3 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 2 Notable Explosions / Time Line so far ............................................................................... 3 Time line thru 1999......................................................................................................... 4 1845-1849 Irish Potato Famine................................................................................ 5 1877 Oct 22 Blantyre UK Coal Mine Explosion ..................................................... 5 1913 Oct 14 Senghenydd UK Coal Mine Explosion ............................................... 6 1916 Apr 12 Faversham, Kent, UK Explosives Factory ...................................... 6 1918 Oct 4 Sayreville NJ Munitions Depot.......................................................... 6 1919 June 5 Baltimore Coal Mine Tunnel disaster..................................................... 6 1921 July 26 Kriewald Germany-Poland ammonium nitrate ............................... 7 1921 Sep 21 Oppau Germany BASF Fertilizer explosion.................................... 7 1924 Mar 1 Edison Township NJ Nixon .............................................................. 7 1925 Apr 4 + 1925 May 3 Muscle Shoals AL ......................................................... 7 1927 Nov 14 Pittsburg PA Stupid Gas Explosion ................................................... 7 1937 March 18 New London TX School Gas Explosion kills 425 ......................... 8 1940 Aug 5 Miramas France.................................................................................... 8 1942 April 29 Tessenderlo Belgium ........................................................................ 8 1944 Oct 20 Cleveland Ohio Two Gas Explosions ................................................. 8 1947 April 16 Texas City Disaster........................................................................... 8 1947 July 28 Brest France...................................................................................... 12 1954 Jan 23 The Red Sea....................................................................................... 12 1956 PG&E lays groundwork ....................................................................................... 12 1959 Aug 7 Roseburg OR...................................................................................... 12 1960 Dec 17 Traskwood Ar................................................................................... 13 1963 Oct 31 Indianapolis Coliseum Gas Explosion .............................................. 13 1965 Mar 1 La Salle Heights Explosion, Quebec Canada..................................... 13 1965 Mar 4 Louisiana ............................................................................................... 14 1967............................................................................................................................... 14 1968 April 6 Richmond Indiana Two Explosions ................................................. 14 1968 Dec 5 Yutan NB............................................................................................... 14 1969 Sep 9 Yutan NB ............................................................................................... 15 1970............................................................................................................................... 15 1971 Oct 21 Glasgow Scotland shopping center Explosion.................................. 15
1
http://www.scribd.com/doc/114094060/CI-Boom-Analysis
Critical Infrastructure disasters thru 1999 Here is the main document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/114094060/CI-Boom-Analysis
2/19/2014 11:59:39 PM
1970 Dec 9 Mo.......................................................................................................... 15 1972 June 20 Butler Al ............................................................................................. 15 1973............................................................................................................................... 15 1974 June 1 Flixborough UK Chemical Explosion ............................................... 16 1977 Lurgan UK .................................................................................................... 16 1980 Pittsburg ........................................................................................................... 16 1981 Aug 25 - San Francisco CA ............................................................................. 16 1983 Sep 23 East Boston MA incidents ................................................................ 17 1987 Goiania Brazil radiation incident ..................................................................... 17 1988 - Ashland oil spill................................................................................................. 17 1988 July North Sea Oil Rig Gas Explosion ......................................................... 18 1988 Nov 29 Kansas City MO............................................................................... 18 1989 Exxon Valdez........................................................................................................... 18 1989 May 12+25 San Bernardino CA Oops and Again ........................................ 18 1989 June 4 Ufa Russia Train disaster kills 575.................................................... 19 1991 Grand Rapids oil spill. ..................................................................................... 19 1992 April 22 Guadalajara Mexico Ten Gas Explosions kill 252 ......................... 19 1993 Milwaukee........................................................................................................ 20 1994 Edison, N.J ....................................................................................................... 20 1994 Aug 2 - Papua New Guinea ............................................................................. 20 1994 Dec 13 Port Neal IA...................................................................................... 20 1996 Threats to US drinking water ........................................................................... 21 1998 Dirty Bomb Attempt ........................................................................................ 21 1998 Jan 6 Xingping Shangxi China ..................................................................... 21 1999 Nov San Diego CA ....................................................................................... 21 Continued in more documents .......................................................................................... 22
Summary
Heres description of this time line installment, which I posted to Scribd: Critical Infrastructure disasters time line thru 1999. I am splitting my research notes into smaller, more digestible, gulps. Watch for other installments coming soon. The news media labels every weather storm, and every humanitarian disaster as worst so far, to the point that we seldom believe that any more. This is statistically unlikely. After the Colorado Theater incident, the news media said this was the worst mass shooting in US history. Apparently modern news media is ignorant of the larger mass shootings of Indians at places like Wounded Knee. The media needs other adjectives than worst to describe scale of a disaster. They also should stop using the phrase once in a century for events that occur every 2 -3 years. The worst industrial incidents (some of them were not accidents but criminal negligence on steroids) I have found include:
Critical Infrastructure disasters thru 1999 Here is the main document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/114094060/CI-Boom-Analysis
2/19/2014 11:59:39 PM
Thousands of these incidents in the USA, for many of the same reasons. NGO studies showing thousands of accidents waiting to happen. Irish Potato Famine was man made millions died. 575 killed in Ufa Russia train disaster. 561 killed in Oppau Germany BASF fertilizer explosion. 500+ dead and 3,500 injured in Texas City. 439 killed in Senghenydd UK coal mine explosion. 425 killed in New London Tx school explosion.
Of course, that may be worst from perspective of # people killed. Other worst includes harm to environment, $ cost to clean up. Not many people were killed in the BP Deepwater Horizon Gulf Oil spill, but the regional economic harm was catastrophic. We learn from this history, that lessons are very slowly implemented to mitigate against same thing happening again, and many organizations management and personnel are totally ignorant of lessons learned by the industry they supposedly specialize in. This is especially true for several industries world wide, including: oil and chemicals, institutions using radiation hardware. It may be thanks to the trend to conglomerates where the people in charge lack any hands on contact with why they are in business.
San Bruno CA was allegedly the worst gas explosion in US history. Every time I see a claim that something is the worst, I am suspicious, because I have seen many such claims which were totally false. It certainly seems to me that it was one of the worst, in recent history. It is not the most people harmed, when you consider New London TX (425 students and faculty killed when a school blew up in a gas explosion). It may not be the worst fire, when you consider Cleveland OH (2 underground storage tanks blowing up) and Formosa Plastics TX (took 5 days to get the fire out). 3 This may be a distortion thanks to me being located in Indiana, when I check on history of past events of a similar nature. 4 See my research notes on the Indianapolis Fairgrounds incident. 5 https://projects.propublica.org/pipelines/
Critical Infrastructure disasters thru 1999 Here is the main document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/114094060/CI-Boom-Analysis
2/19/2014 11:59:39 PM
with largest # of deaths), 371 injuries (state with most injured), $668m property damage. California had 573 incidents, 43 deaths (second place for # of deaths), 198 injured (second place for # injured), $725m property damage. Louisiana had 580 incidents, 20 deaths, 96 injured, $1.42b property damage (state with the most of that). Check the footnote for statistics on other states.6 I guess we might like to see volume of incidents per capita, or per population at risk. After seeing various contradictory comments, speculating about how this event fits into the history of whats possible, I visited Wikipedia, and other sources, seeking a bigger picture in perspective. This is not an exhaustive directory of Gas Explosions,7 just some of the biggest ones, and notable ones, to see if biggest and worst disaster, is correct labeling. Almost everything we think we know, is found to be wrong, when we investigate.
6 7
https://projects.propublica.org/pipelines/ If you follow my links, you will find references to many lesser gas explosions.
Critical Infrastructure disasters thru 1999 Here is the main document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/114094060/CI-Boom-Analysis
2/19/2014 11:59:39 PM
Ignorance about various dangerous chemicals stored in, or transported thru some community, so that when they go boom, it is a total surprise to the local community, including first responders. Industrial accident. Lack of training in how to cope with mishaps with chemicals located at a place of business. This lack of training is with both the people who work there, and the communitys first responders. Mining explosions. Systemic failures at companies mis-managing fuels, such as pipelines o Examples: o Dispatching people, to deal with some crisis, who lacked the training and tools to do anything constructive about it. o Inaccurate record keeping. o Pipeline leak is fueling a fire and explosions. Pipeline company seems to take forever to shut down the fuel for the fire. Train derailment, carrying dangerous chemicals. Utilities connected SCADA to wi fi, so it gets scrambled by ordinary radar. Vehicles carrying stuff, which might explode at any moment, going thru populated areas without police escort, or evacuation of people in harms way. War Munitions accidents, and accidents with the ingredients for explosives. Water problem flood gas regulators, cause fuel surge, causing multiple fires and explosions in Boston in 1983. When Super Storm Sandy arrived in 2012, the company had not yet fixed this problem, so history repeated. Witnesses report smell of gas, authorities say no evacuation needed, hundreds of people die in the subsequent disaster. Witnesses report smell of gas, not investigated in time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blantyre_mining_disaster
Critical Infrastructure disasters thru 1999 Here is the main document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/114094060/CI-Boom-Analysis
2/19/2014 11:59:39 PM
What a shame almost 150 years later, nothing much has changed, other than the ability of mine management to influence government. In the USA, any Congressman who tries to improve safety regulations, will be thrown out of office in the next election, via negative advertising, paid for by the mining industry.
Critical Infrastructure disasters thru 1999 Here is the main document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/114094060/CI-Boom-Analysis
2/19/2014 11:59:39 PM
Lessons learned: The U.S. Bureau of Mines investigated the incident and drafted new rules prohibiting miners and explosives from traveling in the same rail car. 12
12
Critical Infrastructure disasters thru 1999 Here is the main document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/114094060/CI-Boom-Analysis
2/19/2014 11:59:39 PM
18 19
Critical Infrastructure disasters thru 1999 Here is the main document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/114094060/CI-Boom-Analysis
2/19/2014 11:59:39 PM
Disconnect between knowing nature of what is burning, probable consequences of the fire continuing; Lack of relevant training in how to deal with problems, should they occur, for relevant personnel who normally handle the material, and emergency responders. In 1947, war secrecy may have been responsible. In 2013 corporate corruption may be accountable.
Some dangerous materials, when burning, create deadly poisons which can maim and kill people who inhale too much of that smoke. People trying to fight that fire need to be wearing proper respirators, and anyone in the vicinity needs to be evacuated to a safe distance. Some dangerous materials contain their own fuel to keep a fire going, even when standard fire fighting techniques are used. People need to know what the fuel is for a fire, to select the optimum means of fighting that fire. Material, needing special fire fighting methods and safety procedures, ought to be stored separately Just before 8:00 A.M., longshoremen removed the hatch covers on Hold 4 of the French Liberty ship Grandcamp as they prepared to load the ship with dangerous materials, not having any safety procedures associated with the materials. A fire started, and the local fire fighting efforts failed to bring it under control, so the workers backed away. While Leonard Boswell, the gang foreman, and Peter Suderman, superintendent of stevedores, discussed what action to take, the captain of the ship joined the conversation. The captain did not want water used against the fire, because that would ruin the rest of the cargo, which should never have been in the same hold in the first place. Instead, he elected to suppress the flames by having the hatches battened and covered with tarpaulins, the ventilators closed, and the steam system turned on. 23 This is a strategy which makes things worse, not better, for that kind of chemical mixture. See same scenario 1947 July 28 in Brest France. The fire increased in ferocity, so Suderman called the Fire Department and called Galveston for a fire boat. Around 8.30 am, growing pressure from the compressed steam fed into Hold 4 blew off the hatch covers, and a thick column of orange smoke billowed into the morning sky. The volunteer fire dept showed up, but the water they sprayed onto the ship turned to steam. Around 9:00, flames erupted from the open hatch, with smoke variously described as "a pretty gold, yellow color" or as "orange smoke in the morning sunlight...beautiful to see." Twelve minutes later, the Grandcamp disintegrated in a prodigious explosion heard as far as 150 miles distant, and breaking windows up to 40 miles away. 24 A thick curtain of
23 24
http://www.local1259iaff.org/disaster.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disasters
Critical Infrastructure disasters thru 1999 Here is the main document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/114094060/CI-Boom-Analysis
2/19/2014 11:59:39 PM
steel shards scythed through workers along the docks and a crowd of curious onlookers. At the Monsanto plant, located across the slip, 145 of 450 shift workers perished. There was property damage as far as a mile away.25 Falling shrapnel bombarded buildings and oil storage tanks at nearby refineries, ripping open pipes and tanks of flammable liquids and starting numerous secondary fires. After the shrapnel, flaming balls of sisal and cotton from the ships cargo fell out of the sky, adding to the growing conflagration.26 Now people from 20 miles away could see the cloud from the explosions and fires. People rushed to provide help, meeting wounded survivors staggering away. Within an hour doctors, nurses, and ambulances began arriving from Galveston and nearby military bases. They came not knowing local situation, having seen the firestorm cloud, and knew something terrible was happening. There was similar response from police of other cities in Texas, and state authorities. Local hospitals were overwhelmed, so aid stations were setup, wherever practical. As help poured into Texas City, no one gave much thought to another Liberty ship tied up in the adjoining slip. The High Flyer was loaded with the same kind of cargo, contained 1050 tonnes of sulfur and 960 tons of ammonium nitrate, and the force of the Grandcamp explosion had dislodged it from its moorings, crashing it into another nearby ship, the Wilson B. Keene. The High Flyer crew had to abandon ship because of the poisonous smoke from the burning fumes. Much later in the afternoon, two men looking for casualties boarded the High Flyer and noticed flames coming from one of the holds, later believed to be a fire started thanks to either the Grandcamp or the secondary troubles from there.27 Although they reported this to someone at the waterfront, several more hours passed before anyone understood the significance of this situation, and not until 11:00 P.M. did tugs manned by volunteers arrive from Galveston to pull the burning ship away from the docks. Even though a boarding party cut the anchor chain, tugs were unable to extract the ship. By 1 am, flames were shooting out of the High Flyer so the tug crew evacuated the volunteers, and ten minutes later, the High Flyer exploded in a blast witnesses thought even more powerful than that of the Grandcamp. There was a repeat of what happened with the earlier explosion, with a chain reaction of lots more fires started at places which had escaped the earlier conflagration.28 By dawn of the second day, large columns of thick, black smoke were visible thirty miles away. These clouds hovered over Texas City for days until the fires gradually burned out or were extinguished by weary fire-fighting crews.
25 26
10
Critical Infrastructure disasters thru 1999 Here is the main document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/114094060/CI-Boom-Analysis
2/19/2014 11:59:39 PM
All but one member of the Texas City fire department died in the combination disaster. 29 Many agonizing hours were to pass before a semblance of order began to replace the shock and confusion caused by these totally unexpected and devastating events. At the time, this was considered to be the worst industrial accident in American history. The damage was so extreme, and any documentation destroyed that might identify how many people were working at nearby sites, it was impossible to get an accurate count of the dead and missing. Ultimately, the Red Cross and the Texas Department of Public Safety counted 405 identified and 63 unidentified dead. Another 100 persons were classified as "believed missing" because no trace of their remains was ever found. Estimates of the injured are even less precise but appear to have been on the order of 3,500 persons. Although not all casualties were residents of Texas City, the total was equivalent to a staggering 25 percent of the towns estimated population of 16,000.30 Aggregate property loss amounted to almost $100 million, or more than $700 million in todays monetary value. Even so, this figure may be to low, because this estimate does not include 1.5 million barrels of petroleum products consumed in flames, valued at approximately $500 million in 1947 terms. Refinery infrastructure and pipelines, including about fifty oil storage tanks, incurred extensive damage or total destruction. The devastated Monsanto plant alone represented about $ 20 million of the total. 31 One-third of the town's 1,519 houses were condemned, leaving 2,000 persons homeless and exacerbating an already-serious postwar housing shortage.
29 30
11
Critical Infrastructure disasters thru 1999 Here is the main document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/114094060/CI-Boom-Analysis
2/19/2014 11:59:39 PM
The cargo ship Ocean Liberty was loaded with 3300 tons of ammonium nitrate and various inflammable products when it caught fire at 12:30 July 28, 1947. The captain ordered the hold to be sealed and pressurized steam was pumped in. This is a strategy which makes things worse, not better, for that kind of chemical mixture. See same scenario 1947 April 16 in Texas City. As this did not stop the fire, the vessel was towed out of the harbor at 14:00, and exploded at 17:00. The explosion caused 29 deaths and serious damage to the port of Brest.33
33 34
12
Critical Infrastructure disasters thru 1999 Here is the main document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/114094060/CI-Boom-Analysis
2/19/2014 11:59:39 PM
In the case of ships, they need to have a loading dock many miles from soft targets, with high barriers, so if there is an explosion, the barrier catches the debris. The barrier could be like an earthen dam, reinforced with concrete. When the ships go to sea, they need a companion safety boat, with everything needed for an evacuation, and a military escort to keep soft targets far enough away to avoid victimization.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disasters https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disasters 38 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_explosions 39 http://www.library.ca.gov/CRB/96/05/over_4.html http://www.indystar.com/story/news/history/retroindy/2014/01/15/coliseum-explosion/4495037/ 40 http://www2.indystar.com/library/factfiles/accidents/history/coliseum_explosion/coliseum.html 41 http://www.indystar.com/story/news/history/retroindy/2014/01/15/coliseum-explosion/4495037/ 42 I found out about this, thanks to Oksana Szulhan on G+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/110340179058825009829/about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaSalle_Heights_Disaster A newspaper story shortly after, while initial story still somewhat chaotic: http://www2.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/archives/story.html?id=ef28abce-75d0-41fb-b5cd8986b8638d26 https://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=lasalle+heights+gas+explosion&ie=utf8&oe=utf-8
13
Critical Infrastructure disasters thru 1999 Here is the main document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/114094060/CI-Boom-Analysis
2/19/2014 11:59:39 PM
28 people dead. 39 injured. 200 left homeless. 60 vacant dwellings were made available, for free for the 200 homeless. Approx 8.05 am the explosion occurred Approx 8.25 am, first responders had arrived LaSalle Heights is a suburban residential block of low income rental units, in the city of La Salle, Quebec, Canada, on the island of Montreal. The residential block consisted of 25 identical U shaped buildings, each containing 36 apartments of various sizes. The explosion damaged of the 3 buildings, totaling 36 of the apartments.
1967 The Torrey Canyon spill released approximately 35 million gallons of crude oil into
the coastal environments of both Britain and France (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Oil Spill Case Histories, Summaries of Significant U.S. and International Spills, 1967-2001, 1992). At that time, many considered this spill to be among the worst environmental disasters in history. 44 This led the Johnson administration in 1968
to launch the National Contingency Plan (NCP) in case something similar happened in the USA.
http://www.un-naturalgas.org/hydraulic_fracturing_a-z.htm#pipelines See 25 page report = http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R43251.pdf I named my copy CRS Spill Response 2014 Jan. I found out about this report here: http://blogs.fas.org/secrecy/2014/01/usmcdrawdown/ Also see Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan Overview, at http://www.epa.gov/osweroe1/content/lawsregs/ncpover.htm 45 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond,_Indiana_explosion 46 http://www.un-naturalgas.org/hydraulic_fracturing_a-z.htm#pipelines
44
14
Critical Infrastructure disasters thru 1999 Here is the main document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/114094060/CI-Boom-Analysis
2/19/2014 11:59:39 PM
According to un-natural gas org:47 A 14 inch natural gas pipeline, near Houston Tx, ruptures, causing a massive fire. Construction work, downstream of the accident, led to a pressure build up that contributed to the rupture. As I have written elsewhere, I believe that construction work should be coordinated with companies operating pipelines below where the work is going on, to prevent stuff from this happening.
1970
A series of superfund sites in the 1970s, such as Love Canal in New York, led Congress to pass the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980.48
1970 Dec 9 Mo
According to un-natural gas org:50 a leak led to rupture of Phillips Pipeline Companys Port Hudson Propane Gas Pipeline. The gas cloud exploded with a force of several tons of TNT. This was in Franklin County, Missouri.
1973
Stories about gas line disasters as recently as 2011, say that a federal agency advised gas providers to phase out as far back as 1973, citing issues with deterioration and corrosion.52 This plan has yet to be implemented.
47 48
http://www.un-naturalgas.org/hydraulic_fracturing_a-z.htm#pipelines See 25 page report = http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R43251.pdf I named my copy CRS Spill Response 2014 Jan. I found out about this report here: http://blogs.fas.org/secrecy/2014/01/usmcdrawdown/ 49 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarkston_explosion 50 http://www.un-naturalgas.org/hydraulic_fracturing_a-z.htm#pipelines 51 http://www.un-naturalgas.org/hydraulic_fracturing_a-z.htm#pipelines 52 http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/Hundreds-of-miles-of-Atmos-gas-pipes-made-of-corroding-cast-ironexperts-warn-191920011.html
15
Critical Infrastructure disasters thru 1999 Here is the main document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/114094060/CI-Boom-Analysis
2/19/2014 11:59:39 PM
A 2005 Gas Explosion was said to be the largest in UK since this one, so I thought worth reviewing. However this was Chemical Explosion(s). The official story has been called into question, due to eyewitnesses reporting other complications, and indications of a whistle blower being suppressed. Two months prior to the explosion, a crack was discovered in the number 5 reactor. It was decided to install a temporary 50 cm (20 inch) diameter pipe to bypass the leaking reactor to allow continued operation of the plant while repairs were made. But a nearby pipe was burning for about an hour, then this temporary arrangement ruptured, about 40 tons of the plant's 400 ton store of cyclohexane leaked from the pipe and formed a vapour cloud, which found an ignition source, exploded, and totally destroyed the factory. The fuel-air explosion was estimated to be equivalent to 15 tonnes of TNT (60 gigajoules) and it killed 28 people. Had the explosion occurred on a weekday it is likely that more than 500 plant employees would have been killed. Resulting fires raged in the area for over 10 days. It was Britain's biggest peacetime explosion until the 2005 Buncefield fire.
1977 Lurgan UK
It is not clear from a 2013 January article if they just had another similar gas explosion in Lurgan Carn UK.53
1980 Pittsburg
There was some kind of disaster contaminating the water supply, similar to the Charleston W Va 2014 January incident.54
53
http://www.lurganmail.co.uk/community/way-back-when/way-back-when/gas-explosion-damagedhouses-and-shops-1-4627514 54 http://blog.al.com/live/2014/01/usa_professor_grad_students_he.html http://www.southce.org/ajwhelton/ 55 See 2011 Aug 30 NTSB report on San Bruno incident. 56 See Pacific Gas & Electric Company Natural Gas Pipeline Puncture, San Francisco, California, August 25, 1981, Pipeline Accident Report NTSB/PAR-82/01 [Washington, DC: National Transportation Safety Board, 1982].
16
Critical Infrastructure disasters thru 1999 Here is the main document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/114094060/CI-Boom-Analysis
2/19/2014 11:59:39 PM
NTSB concluded that PG&E's multiple, recurring deficiencies are evidence of a systemic problem.
57 58
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Boston_gas_surge http://blogs.fas.org/sciencewonk/2013/12/mexican-radiation-accident-ii/ http://blogs.fas.org/security/2013/12/radioactive-theft-mexico-thief-doesnt-know-can-kill/ http://www-pub.iaea.org/mtcd/publications/pdf/pub815_web.pdf 59 I downloaded this 10 page 140k statement, calling it: US Senate 2014 Feb Olson NRDC.
17
Critical Infrastructure disasters thru 1999 Here is the main document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/114094060/CI-Boom-Analysis
2/19/2014 11:59:39 PM
o 167 people died when Occidental Petroleum's Alpha offshore production platform, on the Piper field in the North Sea, exploded after a gas leak.60
60 61
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_explosions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Boston_gas_surge 62 See 25 page report = http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R43251.pdf I named my copy CRS Spill Response 2014 Jan. I found out about this report here: http://blogs.fas.org/secrecy/2014/01/usmcdrawdown/ 63 http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43390.pdf 25 pages
18
Critical Infrastructure disasters thru 1999 Here is the main document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/114094060/CI-Boom-Analysis
2/19/2014 11:59:39 PM
o o
anomaly, or part of the UN state-of-art of humanitarian aid. Other people cited more examples of this being true for other disasters around the world for decades. So here we have a similar situation in the USA, although on a much smaller scale than Haiti. May 12, a runaway train derailed, plowed into a residential neighborhood. 64 Employees of the train company had made multiple errors, which led to a crisis getting worse. It sounds to me like a combination of inadequate record keeping, and inadequate training. During the cleanup, May 25, earth moving equipment ruptured a pipeline, which ran 6 feet under the rail road right of way. The pipeline was marked with stakes, during the cleanup, to try to avoid exactly this happening. The pipeline company halted usage immediately after the derailment, but was under pressure to resume operations as soon as possible, so they did so, before the derailment cleanup was finished. The rupture was detected by the pipe line company, in time to avoid the explosion, but again, a problem with proper training of the people who see instrument readings, and a company cutting cost corners, leads to another disaster.65 Chernobyl was caused by a similar problem. There was a plan to do a test, which should have been communicated to all personnel affected. There was good training for the personnel to do the test. But on the eve of the test, there was a demand by one of the players to have the test delayed, which meant it was done by a later shift of workers, untrained in how to do it correctly. It was an organizational accident avoidable by having senior officials on all relevant shifts, with the authority to either deny the delay, or delay it longer until properly trained people can be available for the relevant shift.
19
Critical Infrastructure disasters thru 1999 Here is the main document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/114094060/CI-Boom-Analysis
2/19/2014 11:59:39 PM
o April 19, residents of the area reported strong gas smell. o April 21, investigators say it is not necessary to evacuate the area. o April 22, over a period of approx 1 hour, there are ten explosions.
1993 Milwaukee
There was some kind of disaster contaminating the water supply, similar to the Charleston W Va 2014 January incident.69
68 69
20
Critical Infrastructure disasters thru 1999 Here is the main document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/114094060/CI-Boom-Analysis
2/19/2014 11:59:39 PM
In 1998 the US federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) was amended to fund, via the EPA, for all states to identify what chemical facilities existed upstream of water supplies, which would place them at risk, in the event of a leak. Some industries successfully lobbied to be excluded from the process. This evaluation was done, then nothing was done with the info. For example, West Virginia found dozens of high risk sources in the Charleston area, then did nothing about it. This was mentioned in testimony of Mr. Erik D. Olson Senior Strategic Director for Health and Food Natural Resources Defense Council73 This was in association with the W Va water contamination by a chemical spill in Jan 2014.
73
I downloaded this 10 page 140k statement, calling it: US Senate 2014 Feb Olson NRDC. David E. Kaplan and Douglas Pasternak, Terrors Dirty Secret, U.S. News and World Report, December 3, 2001. See downloaded http://cns.miis.edu/opapers/op11/op11.pdf having found out about it here: http://blogs.fas.org/security/2013/12/radioactive-theft-mexico-thief-doesnt-know-can-kill/ CNS = Center for Non-Proliferation Studies. 75 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disasters 76 http://www.wnd.com/2013/01/solar-flares-like-flash-bulbs-at-a-rock-concert/
74
21
Critical Infrastructure disasters thru 1999 Here is the main document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/114094060/CI-Boom-Analysis
2/19/2014 11:59:39 PM
Time Line of these critical infrastructure disasters to be continued in related documents to be named: CI Boom 0 thru 199977 CI Boom 2000 to 200678 CI Boom 200779 CI Boom 2008 to 200980 CI Boom 2010 to 201181 CI Boom 201282 CI Boom 2013 Jan-Mar83 CI Boom 2013 Apr84 CI Boom 2013 May-Dec85 CI Boom 2014 Jan W Va Water86 CI Boom 2014 Jan Later time lines, in history, shall be uploaded to the same SCRIBD Critical Infrastructure collection.87 Revision history will be maintained in the main parent document.
77 78
http://www.scribd.com/doc/203317455/CI-Boom-0-thru-1999 http://www.scribd.com/doc/203688481/CI-Boom-2000-to-2006 79 http://www.scribd.com/doc/204262969/CI-Boom-2007 80 http://www.scribd.com/doc/206714326/CI-Boom-2008-to-2009 81 http://www.scribd.com/doc/206962922/CI-Boom-2010-to-2011 82 http://www.scribd.com/doc/204042682/CI-Boom-2012 83 http://www.scribd.com/doc/204889417/CI-Boom-2013-Jan-to-March 84 http://www.scribd.com/doc/204575461/CI-Boom-2013-April 85 http://www.scribd.com/doc/207356334/CI-Boom-2013-Mar-to-Dec 86 http://www.scribd.com/doc/203973261/CI-Boom-2014-Jan-9-W-Va-Water 87 http://www.scribd.com/collections/4108500/Critical-Infrastructure
22
Critical Infrastructure disasters thru 1999 Here is the main document: http://www.scribd.com/doc/114094060/CI-Boom-Analysis