Mexican gas plant explosion (but we don’t need a security risk assessment, ghax we’re in a hurry to get 25% off)
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January 16, 2013 at 8:54pm
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Jesus!
I imagine the Mexican approach to health and safety to be pretty much on a par with ours.
Note how the fireball follows the leak, caused by distortion and catastrophic failure of the tank due the blaze in proximity.
Now imagine if a leak were to develop slowly, letting off a gas cloud carried by the night breeze into Marsaxlokk before coming across an ignition source, say, an automobile’s hot silencer.
Most people think the cause of Challenger’s explosion was due a faulty o-ring in the main tank. The real reason was that launch at that time of day should have never happened, the o-rings half frozen, lost any elasticity.
Engineers had raised their concerns.
Konrad’s out of his depth, by far.
Is that why Frankie is so keen to sell?
Did anyone hear Konrad saying that a flexible, surface connection into the bay was one of their considerations?
Tonio nearly fell off his chair. Only to have some Sunday columnist call him a bully.
They’re trying to convince us they can do it. We know it can be done.
We’ve simply been provided with ample proof why they can’t.
Yes, of course. They can also use a garden hose to transfer gas at -160C from the ship to Mosta domes.
Ah so you are comparing us to Mexico. Aren’t we a Europen country with European standards. Ara vera desperate to upload these kind of stories.
[Daphne – Yes, we are a European country with European standards. That’s just the point. A new Labour government plans to ignore that and rush the process, ‘cutting out bureaucracy’. The security risk assessment takes a year alone.]
Linquine, you seem to be an intelligent chap. Why so obtuse?
Harry if the above comment was addressed to me, bil-qalb kollha se nwiegbek. A very valid question. I am not intelligent. I did not have the opportunity to attend school in a stable way in my childhood. Up till the age of 17 I did not know how to read and write proper Maltese and Englush. I learned English as a foreign language. Ms Caruana Galizua through her writings gave me the opportunity to learn a lot and be analytical. I am being honest. I have been following her years. Besides this blog I read other stuff. I just don’t watch super one or net thus I evaluate.
Luigi’s out of his tree. Not even sure if he’s an Elve anymore!
As I implied, ‘Luigi’, you have somewhat impressive argumentative skills, if not credentials. However, you did not answer my question. Why so obtuse and obstinate? You got an axe to grind?
Happy to see that Daphne impresses you. She does that to me also. She was incredibly helpful in releasing me from prison many years ago.
[Daphne – That doesn’t sound very good, Harry…]
Don’t think you’re really up to speed as to our future if the reds gain power. I assume your relatively young, keep all your options open.
Maybe not, Daphne. But without your help, the reds could have kept me in the slammer for 22 months. Will never forget what you did.
I mentioned this before, and will mention this again. This kind of plant, and the ships which are required to keep it going, are a security nightmare.
It is a soft target, and require a professional security setup to protect it.
Just because there aren’t any threats on the horizon at this point in time, does not mean that one can forever be complacent.
Apart from the fact that insurance will probably demand this. And I’m afraid that in this case there are no cheapo solutions, ie putting up a few CCTVs and Bob’s your uncle.
A good professional security setup costs BIG money.
It’s like trying to convince the kids why you don’t dry a wet cat in a microwave.
Yeah, like I’d make that mistake again…
Wonder if little Joey’s dealings are with Algeria. Lots of gas, but, whoops, as of today, now controlled by Mali terrorists.
Can’t believe the little shit will win, in spite of himself.
Apparently so. Konrad Mizzi let that slip on Bondi+ last night.
And some of Labour’s old friends, the Gaddafis, live there, don’t they?
U ijja – why all this panic? Imbilli inharbxu naqra ‘l hemm u naqra ‘l hawn. Mhux laqwa li Joseph ikun l-izghar PM?
I do not know what to say. There is definitely something seriously wrong with the way these people think.
I remember Charles Mangio referring to Nationalists as having different DNA to that of Labour supporters. How bloody right he was.
Not only in Mexico.
“An explosion that flattened a large part of the Algerian port of Skikda last month, killing 30 people and injuring 70 more, has shaken plans to build dozens of liquefied natural gas terminals in the United States to address a forecast shortage of natural gas.”
The New York Times – February 12, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/12/business/algerian-explosion-stirs-foes-of-us-gas-projects.html
“Environmentalists in California, Massachusetts and Alabama have challenged the safety of the proposed L.N.G. terminals, where supercooled natural gas is to be taken from oceangoing tankers, warmed and then pumped into the pipeline network.”
Where are our environmentalists? FAA? Ms Astrid?
Up in arms whenever some old and decrepit building is going to be demolished (and maybe they’re right). But this silence is now deafening.
Astrid Vella is not a real environmentalist so I don’t really expect anything from her.
What about Nature Trust? Their long-standing president Vince Attard was recently awarded the Ġieħ ir-Repubblika medal so, where is he now?
And Edward Mallia? He supposedly represents Friends of the Earth (possibly its sole member in Malta) but has been particularly ambiguous in this controversy and limited himself to insulting the government without contributing anything to the debate.
As for Greenpeace, they sought and got their 15 minutes of fame (and shame) by climbing up the facade of Auberge de Castille and damaging it but are nowhere to be seen nowadays.
Gaia Foundation is basically a money-making enterprise while BirdLife is not interested if no feathers are involved so I don’t expect them to do anything either.
There is however Din l-Art Ħelwa which should find the courage to express itself.
Antoine,
when videos like the one below are released, messing around with comparisons, it’s relatively easy to see how people could be duped into taking decisions which they’ll regret later.
Just look at the ridiculous comparison made when it’s spilt onto a tray, ‘nothing left to catch fire’.
Then the there’s the scientic looking bespectacled, lab coat wearing idiot implying it’s even safe to drink, sweet Jesus.
The net’s loaded with other videos from friendly green corporations claiming LNG’s slower exhothermic reaction to be safe.
Fine, instead of being blown to smithereens let’s just go for 3rd degree burns then.
Alas, the layman’s right to an informed decision is the victim here. And that will be the politicians.
‘They told us it was safe’ they’ll say.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjYPb0M5S-Q
Brought to you by the same corporation which had to admit it couldn’t close one of it’s valves pouring oil onto the shores of Louisiana, Mississipi, Alabama and Florida.
And Labour will have us believe they’re objective in their thinking. Please.
@ Harry Purdie
I am not obtuse at all and not obstinate at all. If you mean obtuse in how I view politics in Malta, I assure you I am not. I voted YES for EU membership and for the PN in 2003. If I was obtuse I wouldn’t have done so.
[Daphne – Something that doesn’t quite square up here: one moment you’re writing like a 19-year-old and saying you’re a law student, and the next, you’re claiming to have voted in 2003.]
Obtuse are those who no matter what even knowing that they will harm themselves, they vote Labour. To put you in the picture. I was brought up by my grandparents. I embraced Eddie Fenech Adami, because my grandmother influenced me when I was young and I don’t regret that at all. When she passed away I started looking at politics in a different way. I wanted to evaluate. The PN of Eddie Fenech Adami is not the same as the GonziPN. It’s completely different.
[Daphne – So are the times we live in, Luigi. That’s why.]
I truly believe that Dr. Gonzi is a very good man, but the people around him gives him wrong advices, because they have other interests. Besides that I view the PN as a confessional Party as if we are living in Iran.
[Daphne – Wrong again. The Nationalist Party under Fenech Adami was far stricter about these issues, because Fenech Adami himself brooked no dissent on matters of religion. If people didn’t notice, or these issues never came to the fore in their consciousness, it was because there were far more important things to worry about, like a building a country and its economy practically from scratch, then taking it into the European. It’s only now that people have the relative ‘luxury’ of talking about gay marriage. But to say that Gonzi is more ‘religious’ than Fenech Adami is absurd. It’s the other way round.]
Dr. Gonzi voted no in parliament to legislate for divorce. This was against people’s will, who sent a clear message to the PN. Still, they did not want to listen. I heard Dr. Gonzi on TV saying that if he had to change something he won’t introduce divorce. My how stupid this is.
[Daphne – I agree with you on the matter of divorce. It was very badly handled and I wrote extensively about it at the time. But it’s not about to make me help elect Labour. I’m far too rational for that.]
Sometimes I believe that he is very much influenced by his wife on religious issues. Kindly note that he is leading a European country and not Saudi Arabia or Iran. We are not a theocracy. Not all the country is Roman Catholic and religion should never take over politics. Even if by default the majority are Roman Catholic, not all the country gives a hoot about religion.
I don’t mean that Dr. Muscat is better than Dr. Gonzi but I am believing that at this stage to get rid of the people around Dr. Gonzi we need to change. And if you are young and progressive never fear change.
[Daphne – What bollocks. The analysis of change and its potential consequences, good or bad or both, is never made on the basis of one’s age or progressiveness, but of one’s intelligence and rational analytical skills. Many young (and not so young) people who think they are ‘voting for change’ because they are ‘progressive’ are in actual fact doing so because they are not particularly intelligent or insightful. I long ago made the link between pure, rational intelligence (as distinct from academic study) and the decision to vote PN, or rather in many case, against Labour. Also, over the course of time I began to notice that whenever I found myself entangled in a debate with somebody about politics, intelligence or the lack of it tended to shape their opinion about Labour (more so than about the Nationalist Party). I know people in their 20s who have a perfect assessment of the situation, and will be voting PN, and people in their 40s, 50s and 60s who are just unable to do so, and can’t see Labour for what it is.]
I truly believe that Ms Caruana Galizia won’t upload my reply to you, because what I said hurts, and there are no answers to the above.
That’s why people identified themselves with the PN, because they adopted liberal economic policies and eventually took us into the European Union.
I agree with you, that when a country progresses then after liberal economics people would want civil liberties as in divorce, gay rights etc. Remember Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It is the same concept.
The PN got away with religion because people were alienated by liberal economic policies. Besides that EFA was a great leader unlike Gonzi. I don’t remember KMB, but Gonzi’s leadership skills are mainly the same, he was reduced to zilch.
The economy was steered well no thanks to Dr. Gonzi but because banks were not exposed to toxic assets and complex derivatives. We don’t have the expertise. Believe me, if we had the expertise we would have tried them and we would be in the same problems as our neighbour countries. Our banks were not leveraged. They had a comfortable cushion, with liquidity taking a big role. Read when the genius failed, and you realise that even the Black-Scholes-Model failed, when they were short of liquidity.
You can always be a law student as a mature student, as you did your archelogy degree. There no need to rush to read a degree.
Now, we need liberal rights and Muscat is promising them. If he fails, he would be rubbished like his predecessor.
[Daphne – I am not accepting comments from you anymore. You are clearly not one person but a few elves. One moment you are barely coherent, and the next you are writing proper sentences. Goodbye. You are the weakest link.]
What rubbish, Italy’s banks didn’t carry toxic assets either, yet they required a 100 billion cash injection early last year.
The panic started when Berlusconi repeatedly refused to tackle the deficit. The letter sent by the ECB late summer 2011 basically dictated what to do.
When he ignored that as well, foreign investors pulled out in the space of a week.
Pull the other one Varist.
Immagina jekk ikun hemm attakk terroristiku (jew anki ‘the threat of’) xi jkunu il-konsegwenzi wara li jkollna zewg mostri ta’ cilindri tal-gass mdendlin ma’ ghonqna?
Delimara tinsab fuq il-flight path tar-runway principali li tintuza aktar minn 90 fil-mija tal-hin:immagina ajruplan zghir li fuq ikollu bomba ta’ xi nofs tunellata (zghira din) u li ivarja r-rotta bi ftit gradi, mimli fuel, nistaw nghidu bye-bye ghas-south ta’ Malta u anki ghall-unika power station ta’ Malta:tahseb li tal-insurance ma jiehdux dan ix-xenarju meta jikkalkulaw l-premium?
Barra li xi hadd jista jgheddek bil-pulit, li ma jistax jeskludi li xi ‘mignun’ ta’artu ma jaghmilx dan:meta zammejna ma’ naha hadna dan ir-riskju, u dawn in-nies issa qeghdin l-Algerja u l-Algerija hija fornitur kbir tal-gass.
U tiehux qata li jibdew ‘qtuh tad-dawl’ minn Delimara?
Both Tonio Fenech and Konrad Mizzi should see this video. For different reasons, of course.