Read me >>> sharing illuminating journalism

[vertical_doug]

A Bike Ride Through the Garden of Good and Evil | Outside Online

Most of here still ride bikes, right?

[72gmc]

^^^ thanks for that.

[BBB]

A Bike Ride Through the Garden of Good and Evil | Outside Online

Most of here still ride bikes, right?

An interesting read for sure, but ultimately depressing.

[guido]

Opinion | Trump Gives U.S. Business the Ukraine Treatment - The New York Times

[guido]

The Inside Story of Christopher Steele’s Trump Dossier | The New Yorker

[Too Tall]

Natural Wine, seems after the hipsters exited frame building they started making wine.

How Natural Wine Became a Symbol of Virtuous Consumption | The New Yorker

Nooooooooooooooooooooooo

[vertical_doug]

[guido]

UN climate change report: the world has backed itself into a dangerous corner - Vox

[guido]

After 240 Years and 7 Generations, Forced to Sell the Family Farm - The New York Times

[ericpmoss]

Viva deregulation. Dumb fuckers. Videos Show Giant Texas Chemical Plant Explosion That Forced 60,000 People to Evacuate - VICE

[htwoopup]

Consequences of narrow thinking...U.S.-based chip-tech group moving to Switzerland over trade curb fears - Reuters

[Dallas Tex]

Viva deregulation. Dumb fuckers. Videos Show Giant Texas Chemical Plant Explosion That Forced 60,000 People to Evacuate - VICE

Your opinion is that the deregulation that occurred on Thursday is responsible for an explosion that happened the day before on Wednesday...... is that opinion based on ignorance or obedience?

[Matthew Strongin]

Your opinion is that the deregulation that occurred on Thursday is responsible for an explosion that happened the day before on Wednesday...... is that opinion based on ignorance or obedience?

Or maybe he’s suggesting that the deregulation on Thursday wasn’t a great idea in light of things like the explosion on Wednesday.

[jclay]

Your opinion is that the deregulation that occurred on Thursday is responsible for an explosion that happened the day before on Wednesday...... is that opinion based on ignorance or obedience?

Don't be obtuse, or a demagogue.

I'm a retired mechanical design and process controls (automation) engineer. My work concerned the design and start-up of small process facilities for mitigation of hazardous waste releases at petrochem production and chemical distribution facilities, including Beaumont as it happens. Although I was never a "regulatory guy" I've been close enough to assure you that various meaningful safety regulations have been getting rolled back for quite some time in the process industries (and obviously others). And you don't need to be in the business to know that that sort of thing has been going on; you just need to have been paying attention. And this sort of regulatory action is a fine example of further de-fanging: "The new rules meant companies would not have to submit to third-party audits after accidents, or grant the public access to information on which chemicals were held in the facilities". I trust that none of the adults here think that this is good for public health or will fall for the BS rationale indicated in the article.

Remember when Texas wanted to allow petrochem (and other smokestack industries) self police/regulate? Brilliant.

[Dallas Tex]

Don't be obtuse, or a demagogue.

I'm a retired mechanical design and process controls (automation) engineer. My work concerned the design and start-up of small process facilities for mitigation of hazardous waste releases at petrochem production and chemical distribution facilities, including Beaumont as it happens. Although I was never a "regulatory guy" I've been close enough to assure you that various meaningful safety regulations have been getting rolled back for quite some time in the process industries (and obviously others). And you don't need to be in the business to know that that sort of thing has been going on; you just need to have been paying attention. And this sort of regulatory action is a fine example of further de-fanging: "The new rules meant companies would not have to submit to third-party audits after accidents, or grant the public access to information on which chemicals were held in the facilities". I trust that none of the adults here think that this is good for public health or will fall for the BS rationale indicated in the article.

Remember when Texas wanted to allow petrochem (and other smokestack industries) self police/regulate? Brilliant.

You must be in position to educate us as to what regulations have been rolled back in the last several years that could have possibly contributed to this type of accident.

The floor is yours:

[jclay]

You must be in position to educate us as to what regulations have been rolled back in the last several years that could have possibly contributed to this type of accident.

The floor is yours:

How on Earth did you read my post and come to the conclusion that I know what caused this particular disaster, never mind being able to identify a particular regulatory action that, if enacted, would have been the cause? How did you not see my comment as the general observation of consistent efforts by industry to degrade regulation?

On the chance that you're genuinely interested: Reduction in field enforcement staff via budget cuts or shifting regulatory responsibilities to the state level, where the affected industries have increased political power, are two common and cost effective approaches to regulatory dilution.

What I sometimes dealt with directly was a lack of inspection and enforcement wrt pressure vessels and piping that represented a local personnel hazard and clearly should have been out of service.

[Dallas Tex]

How on Earth did you read my post and come to the conclusion that I know what caused this particular disaster...

Your response doesn't really match my question:

My question "what regulations have been rolled back in the last several years that could have possibly contributed to this type of accident"

Your response "......How on Earth did you read my post and come to the conclusion that I know what caused this particular disaster"


but maybe your stated background of expertise and your knowledge of regulatory roll backs made me think you may have some insight:

....... I've been close enough to assure you that various meaningful safety regulations have been getting rolled back..............

And don't forget the implication of the original post:

Viva deregulation. Dumb fuckers. Videos Show Giant Texas Chemical Plant Explosion That Forced 60,000 People to Evacuate - VICE

One could potentially argue that the opposite is true since regulatory oversight had been dramatically increased in the aftermath of the 2013 explosion in West, Texas.

[jclay]

I'm not a regulatory expert, cannot quote chapter and verse on specific changes to regulatory statute and I don't know that this disaster is down to regulatory violations or rollbacks (and reduction in inspection and enforcement is regulatory rollback).

What I can tell you is that I encountered violations that were down to a lack of compliance with established and legally required inspection, reporting, maintenance, repair and record keeping requirements on the facility side, and a lack of adequate numbers of inspection and enforcement staff on the regulatory side. Functionally that IS regulatory rollback. I'm also generally aware of consistent industry efforts to defang regulations (extending inspection intervals comes to mind). In occasional chats with EPA field staff as well as commercial pressure vessel inspectors the common denominators were inadequate staffing for inspection, and facilities that were out of compliance in addressing problems as required by regulation; they confirmed what I was seeing. Any of that can become the root cause of a facility disaster.

If you want to argue that the Obama era regulatory changes resulting from the West Texas disaster = a generally, overall, more stringent regulatory environment, be my guest. While there is probably some limited-scope truth to it, it's folly to think that industry isn't constantly doing it's best to reduce regulatory compliance costs, hence the Trump administration's attempt to roll back the 3rd party audit and chemical inventory reporting regulations that came out of the West Texas disaster; and that is a moronic action.

If you're just reacting to an implication that the Trump administration is generally bad news for good regulation of industry (or commerce in general) then I'm not going to argue with you. I think you're demonstrably, obviously wrong but I'm not about to argue with you.

Having said that I'm not a great fan of neo-liberal Democrats either. They don't go around intentionally trying to burn the house down and in my view attempt to be more socially progressive but they're pretty solidly in the pockets of corporate America and that tends to trump most else.

[guido]

Republicans Defending Trump on Impeachment Should Fear the Judgment of History | The New Yorker

[guido]

The best climate change charities to donate to - Vox