When? Earth says no. (Old Harbor: 2013, credit, unemployment)

[AADAD]

In village of Old Harbor, residents worry about grounded Kulluk | State News | ADN.com

[Glitch]

This story actually does credit to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, and the laws and regulations in place that prevented this from becoming much worse. The vessel is double-hulled, and has contingency plans and responders in place for just such an occurrence.

[Glitch]

For those who want factual information concerning the Kulluk grounding on Sitkalidak Island, instead of the ADN fiction linked above, this is the current Situation Report from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Spill Prevention and Response, Prevention and Emergency Response Program:

http://www.dec.state.ak.us/spar/perp...7201_sr_07.pdf

The January 3 Kulluk assessment team inspected all fuel tanks and voids; the three upper decks and the lower storage deck was reported to have water damage. The fuel tanks which are located at the five meter level were found to be intact with no fuel leakage detected. During the assessment by the salvage crew members, seawater was discovered in the 3S‐7C internal void compartment. The compromise does not pose a threat to the stability of the vessel.

[AADAD]

Originally Posted by Glitch

This story actually does credit to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, and the laws and regulations in place that prevented this from becoming much worse. The vessel is double-hulled, and has contingency plans and responders in place for just such an occurrence.

Giving credit for a near calamity that was predicted over and over again (and worse to follow) hardly imo deserves praise. The earth has a mind of her own....and she has reached her limit.

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by AADAD

Giving credit for a near calamity that was predicted over and over again (and worse to follow) hardly imo deserves praise. The earth has a mind of her own....and she has reached her limit.

A near calamity does not make it a calamity. In fact, being alive each day is a near calamity situation for each one of us, and a calamity for some of us. Regardless, while we have a finite life, earth lives.

[jdhpa]

Originally Posted by AADAD

The earth has a mind of her own....and she has reached her limit.

Not sure what this means. We need minerals to be mined, they're going to be mined from somewhere. If they're mined in the US we can make sure it's done using the best known method of preserving the environment. If they're mined outside of the US we have no control, and it will probably be much harder on the environment. And the people who would have mined it in the US will instead be on welfare or long term unemployment, instead of working and providing for themselves and their families.

[AADAD]

[quote=jdhpa;27640999]Not sure what this means. We need minerals to be mined, they're going to be mined from somewhere. If they're mined in the US we can make sure it's done using the best known method of preserving the environment. If they're mined outside of the US we have no control, and it will probably be much harder on the environment. And the people who would have mined it in the US will instead be on welfare or long term unemployment, instead of working and providing for themselves and their families.

I don't disagree ....and....It does not matter. The earth is a sentient living being. Everything grows.

The fact that is has begun a process of wrecking the civilized world will continue.

One large earthquake produces a devastating tsunami which cripples nuclear power and devastates the ability of a country to produce non contaminated food on land and in the ocean for generations. That is just the beginning of the calamity in Japan.... Fiction?

She has reached her limit. Buckle up.

[starlite9]

Well considering the drilling rig went aground on a rocky beach, and did so in a very big storm and has come back off unscathed other than the "Sky is falling crowd" is crying it is a failure, I would say that is a pretty big testament to Shell wanting a rig that can handle the environment, appears it did so and came out with flying colors considering it wasn't a part of the plan to transport it... So far the only casualties are the people that were actually hoping for it to turn into a disaster so they could say "See, we told you so"!

Course the naysayers are going to scream it is unsafe just like they were before anything happened. Well where the rig is suppose to drill, it is in shallow waters, the storms don't build anywhere near the energy that it was just subjected to. It was the towing vessels that dropped the ball, the rig itself proved a match for the elements for the most part.

The waves breaking over it were pretty huge, would have ground up most vessels into shards of steel on the rocks!

Pretty cool... no spill or loss of anything other than maybe a few crew who cut the tow may have lost a job.

[Dakster]

The grounding showed we still have a ways to go to prevent accidents. (Secondary, tertiary backup systems?), but at least it shows that Shell was prepared to deal it and that they built there vessel strong enough to handle it. No repeat of the Exxon spill - I think it shows that we learned something from past design mistakes.

[AADAD]

Originally Posted by starlite9

Well considering the drilling rig went aground on a rocky beach, and did so in a very big storm and has come back off unscathed other than the "Sky is falling crowd" is crying it is a failure, I would say that is a pretty big testament to Shell wanting a rig that can handle the environment, appears it did so and came out with flying colors considering it wasn't a part of the plan to transport it... So far the only casualties are the people that were actually hoping for it to turn into a disaster so they could say "See, we told you so"!

Course the naysayers are going to scream it is unsafe just like they were before anything happened. Well where the rig is suppose to drill, it is in shallow waters, the storms don't build anywhere near the energy that it was just subjected to. It was the towing vessels that dropped the ball, the rig itself proved a match for the elements for the most part.

The waves breaking over it were pretty huge, would have ground up most vessels into shards of steel on the rocks!

Pretty cool... no spill or loss of anything other than maybe a few crew who cut the tow may have lost a job.

Lucky I grant to you. This is news however.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/09/us....html?hpw&_r=0