Breaking..... to all my anti-regulation friends..

[busterbrown]

Another example of why (we the people need strong regulations) over anything which can impact
our lives to the extreme.

Massive Gas Explosions in Mass. Communities. Over 70 situations (Home Explosions)
have been reported.. Man.. this could be a horrible situation


https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/13/us/massachusetts-explosions-fires/index.html

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. Regulation helps 98% of the public and costs the other 2% a couple bucks.

[Stallion]

2. Something Like This Happened in Neighborhood Near Love Field in Dallas

but not in as big an area and seemingly close to simultaneously. I think it turned out to be caused by cheap underground pipes and was exacerbated by heavy rains in the weeks before which caused soil movement. Public utility Energy provider ended up having to replace ALL the transmission pipes throughout the entire neighborhood and displaced the residents for about a month. Texas Regulatory Commission apparently knew about these dangerous neighborhoods but did nothing about it until homes started blowing up. I guess we have "exploding neighborhoods" to look forward to in the future--just not enough money to protect the public and give the Top 2% a huge tax break

[busterbrown]

3. Stallion..The other day..

On a main blvd near my home which I must use 3 times a day, Last week the electric shut down in my house.. Walked down the street to the main blvd and learned that the gas lines some how caused an explosion under the blvd. which blew a man whole cover 20 ft in the air.. Fortunately no cars were on driving over it.

[malaise]

4. This is huge

Deserves way more coverage

[GemDigger]

5. I can't believe how spread out and random they are.

[RainCaster]

6. This could have been a hack - over pressuring the pipes could do this.

But DFT will protect us all from Bad Vlad.

[appalachiablue]

7. Gilded Age II. A disaster from recklessness & lack of regulation,

A Spectacle of Horror – The Burning of the General Slocum, June 15, 1904. The deadliest disaster in New York before 9/11, killed many women and children, and ultimately erased a German community from the map of Manhattan...

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-spectacle-of-horror-the-burning-of-the-general-slocum-104712974/

[denbot]

9. Wow.

[appalachiablue]

10. The Gen. Slocum disaster is often overlooked but caused mass loss of lives.

https://www.nypl.org/blog/2011/06/13/great-slocum-disaster-june-15-1904

"The General Slocum Disaster occurred on June 15, 1904. This tragedy is much less well known compared to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in NYC in 1911 an the Titanic disaster in 1912."

(The ship co. owner and captain cut corners, deceived and bribed inspectors to overlook safety violations and hazards, and as a result were responsible for the loss of more than a thousand people, most of them women and children).

- "Testimony and Partial Justice: Testimony that would follow in the days ahead established that there were few safeguards; life vests and hoses were rotten, life boats were in the same state, fire drills were non-existent, and the crew was untrained to handle the panic that followed on board the Slocum. >"Eyewitnesses from the shore could see the boat burning and wondered why the captain did not come to shore. Quickly, Van Schaick and the Knickerbocker Steamboat Company came under the crosshairs of an investigation. Frank A. Barnaby, the President of the company, defended the actions of the captain and the crew."

- "The Aftermath: For days afterward, bodies would wash ashore. Only 321 passengers survived from a total of 1,358 passengers. The final death count totaled 1,021. There would be miracle stories of survivors for the lucky few and heartbreak for those who lost loved ones.
>It was widely reported that Captain William Henry Van Schaick would not bring the ship to shore for insurance reasons.
Instead, Van Schaick steered the burning ship to North Brother Island. Van Schaick would testify that gas tanks and lumber yards made landing near 130th Street, close to the Bronx, dangerous."

"On January 27, 1906, justice was meted out to Captain Van Schaick by a jury of the United States Circuit Court. He was found guilty of criminal negligence that he had failed to maintain the fire drills required by law. Judge Thomas, the presiding judge, sentenced Van Schaick to 10 years at hard labor.
And what happened to the company that owned the ship and the director? The Knickerbocker Steamboat Company and Frank Barnaby escaped justice." Van Schaick would serve only part of his sentence at Sing Sing prison. He received a pardon (through the efforts of his wife) from President William Howard Taft in 1911."
_______
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS_General_Slocum



- Last survivor of the General Slocum, Adelia Wotherspoon b. 1905, died at age 100 in 2004.

~ Too many Americans are dangerously unaware of just bad how things were then, and the resemblance of that period to the growing lack of regulation in business, lessening govt. oversight and loss of protections in the last 30 years. Unless systems are changed, we're headed for another dangerous period again, all in the name of pursuing more and more profit, and greed. And it has to end.

[FBaggins]

8. What's the connection?

Are you under the impression that gas service is not already heavily regulated?