On 9/10/2010 6:58 AM Pete C. spake thus:

David Nebenzahl wrote:

Been watching the teevee nooz coverage of the San Bruno [San Francisco
peninsula] gas main explosion and conflagration. Wow.

I used to live about a mile away from that spot, across Skyline Blvd.;
used to shop at the Lunardi's just across the road.

The news reported lots of people saying they'd been smelling gas in the
neighborhood for the last week or so. One can only hope that PG&E (Pure
Greed & Extortion) gets raked over the coals, literally, for this one.

A few comments on this:

- People said they had smelled gas for a week, did any of those people
bother to report it?

Yes. They also reported that PG&E trucks had been seen in the area, some
that very day. So apparently the company took the reports seriously; how
seriously remains to be seen. (I'm just now hearing reports that the gas
smell was reported WEEKS before, not just one week.)

- People laugh at me when I say Nat. Gas is *not* safe and should not be
allowed in residential areas, yet nearly every day there is a house
explosion due to a nat. gas leak, and every year or two a big incident
like this one. I recall an apartment building in the northeast (NJ?)
being leveled by one of these nat. gas transmission lines exploding
under it.

It should be allowed, but only if much more stringent safety measure are
put in place. And the really infuriating aspect of this incident was
just how long it took the utility company to shut off the gas pipeline
after the explosion. I was watching the live coverage, on four local TV
news channels, with spectacular views of this gigantic fireball spouting
out of the ground in this neighborhood. That fireball burned for about
TWO ****ING HOURS. How the hell could it have taken them that long to
locate the nearest accessible valve and close it? (I understand that
it's more than just a matter of shutting a valve; it has to be done
carefully, so that the fireball doesn't extinguish itself with gas still
coming out, which could lead to another catastrophic explosion.)

Even last night, before camera crews could get in for good shots of the
area, they showed this incredible scene that looked like something out
of Dante or Hieronymous Bosch; what used to be a residential street was
a huge hole in the ground, now filled with water from firehoses,
surrounded by rubble and debris. The street itself had, in some places,
completely burned--BURNED!--down to dirt. ****ing incredible.

- Gas detectors are pretty inexpensive, they're included in every RV.
Various technologies exist to allow the gas monopolies to install gas
monitors in the areas where they pipe their dangerous product. It would
not be especially expensive to install remote gas detectors in the area
that would not rely on some person actually calling the monopoly to
report a possible gas leak. The gas detectors also are more sensitive
than human noses so they could detect a small leak blowing past.

Tell that to PG&E, who never fail to cut a corner if they can get away
with it.


--
The fashion in killing has an insouciant, flirty style this spring,
with the flaunting of well-defined muscle, wrapped in flags.

- Comment from an article on Antiwar.com (http://antiwar.com)