Pipe Line Failure Shows Our Crumbling Infastructure

Another Failure of Bush and his Policies

Published on August 7, 2006 By COL Gene In Politics

The pipe line failure in Alaska is a good example of the crumbling infrastructure in this country. Water and sewer systems, dams, bridges, the electric grids, pipe lines are all in desperate need of replacing. Bush gave Iraq $20 Billion to help rebuilding the infrastructure in Iraq but has ignored the very same needs in America.

We grant tax cuts to people that do not need the money and start wars that do not need to be fought both of which use the resources we need to rebuild the essential structures of this country. As we all pay even more for oil because of this infrastructure failure, we should demand that we end tax cuts we can not afford, stop wars that sap our resources and begin dealing with the essential issues facing our country!

Comments (Page 2)

COL Gene

on Aug 09, 2006

just john

Who do you think owns the roads, bridges, dams, sewer and water systems? This is the same infrastructure Bush helped rebuild in Iraq but ignores in our country. It is not just this pipeline. I did not say the Fed should rebuild the pipeline. What I said is in the case of BP, Bush and the conservatives refuse to regulate the essential companies and then when they fail on their own to act properly, all Americans must PAY and PAY and PAY! It is more important to insure the BIG OIL, and companies like ENRON can do as they please then to protect the 300 Million Americans.

just john

on Aug 09, 2006

Who do you think owns the roads, bridges, dams, sewer and water systems?

That's not what the original piece was about. Enron was alowed to do the terrible things that it did until they got caught. The only difference between what would have happened and what did happen was time.

BP is a client of ours. I know that what happened up north is not representative of their policies. BP is the most responsible party we deal with. We handle a large part of their drilling operations.

I guess in your world the 300 million Americans shouldn't be exempt from the government rule. If they get to control what a private industry does with it's assets, why shouldn't they be able to come into your home and tell you how and what you should do to make it run. Big government is a huge waste of money, greater than any war in history.

Rightwinger

on Aug 09, 2006

Enron with the regulations in place scammed this country.

--ColGene

As I recall, Gene, Enron was well into its game all during the 1990s. Let's see.....who was president in the 90s? I...don't think it was Bush...was it? No, they just got caught during his presidency. He had nothing to do with either their crimes or their getting caught at it, just like he had nothing to do with the damn pipeline.
Cheese and Crackers, man......can you ever write about anything else? Why don't you just cut to the chase and call your blog "Bush Truth as I want it to be"?

You know, it's not like absolutely nothing is getting done.
Let's talk infrastructure.....I was fifteen minutes late for work this morning because of highway construction (and I mean construction...they're building a new highway interchange and toll road that will connect with Rte. 22) going on about 5 miles east of my house. I sat in traffic for about half an hour while they did whatever they did in building the new overpass.
All Spring and into about June, they were repaving and repairing Rte. 22, replacing guardrails and painting new lines. It's a pleasure to ride on, now. Smooth as a baby's ass.
When I left Fort Wayne, Indiana, last summer, the whole city was torn up because the water dept. was replacing outmoded sewer lines and drainage culverts. My street was impassable for weeks. The only way in was from a side street that you had to go two blocks out of your way to get to.

Stop acting like everything is falling apart, Chicken Little. The things you're talking about here are no better or worse now than it was before he took office.

Everywhere you look, you see the Evil Hand of Bush at work; or not at work, as the case here may be. You're mildly paranoid and possibly delusional. You need help. Get it.

MasonM

on Aug 09, 2006

Until now the low volume pipelines were not under Federal inspection regulation and therefore not Federally inpected as the high volume pipelines have been. This has been a fact since the pipelines were built.

Due to the current problem the Bush administration is changing those rules to place the low volume pipes under the same Federal inspection regulations as the high pressure ones. This is something that wasn't done by any past administration.

So now, does Col Gene acknowledge that the Bush administration has taken steps to correct a mistake by past administrations to ensure this problem doesn't happen again, or will he find some reason to decry this as well?

stutefish

on Aug 09, 2006

The vast majority of the infrastructure we depend on is not actually owned by the federal government. In most cases, the federal government has little to no jurisdiction at all over the infrastructure; depending on whether or not federal funds were used, and on what terms.

If your local infrastructure is falling apart, it has nothing to do with Bush; and everything to do with your not keeping a closer watch on your city council, county board of supervisors, and state legislature.

And one company having problem with one infrastructure component of their own private operation, does not translate into all companies getting paid to ruin the country. Individuals don't always perform to standard. Companies drop the ball. Governments are generally corrupt and incompetent. None of this is Bush's fault, even if he is part of the problem for eight years or so.

S.S. NAZI COLGENE

on Aug 09, 2006

Blame Bush, America or the Jews/. your speciality casting unreasoning blame,

But I must admit, my admiration for you has increased with your totally acceptable views on Jews.

COL Gene

on Aug 10, 2006

Reply By: just john Posted: Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Who do you think owns the roads, bridges, dams, sewer and water systems?

That's not what the original piece was about.

Better read my blog again! See BELOW:

The pipe line failure in Alaska is a good example of the crumbling infrastructure in this country. Water and sewer systems, dams, bridges, the electric grids, pipe lines are all in desperate need of replacing. Bush gave Iraq $20 Billion to help rebuilding the infrastructure in Iraq but has ignored the very same needs in America.

just john

on Aug 10, 2006

Better read my blog again! See BELOW:

So do you have any intelligent thought? If you aren't going to adress the questions posed to you, why do you bother to blog about these subjects? I dare you to answer my question but I know what you are going to do. You are going to abandon this thread like you do all the rest because yet again you have been proven to be without point.

Water and sewer systems, dams, bridges, the electric grids, pipe lines are all in desperate need of replacing.

So how do you explain all of the udate work on existing sewer and water lines in our area and what about the new roads and repaving that is going on? I don't know what hole you live in but this stuff happens everyday.

MythicalMino

on Aug 10, 2006

oh, yeah...it does, and it does.....

I-69, just north of Coldwater, MI, is under construction...AGAIN....it has been every summer for the last couple of years.

They were just doing some work right down the street of our house about 3 weeks ago...only a matter of time when they get to right in front of our house.

I see road construction ALL THE TIME....everywhere I go...no matter what state I am in.

Tova7

on Aug 10, 2006

I lived in Alaska and part of the pipeline ran right through my back forty. You are sorely mistaken if you think the pipeline is ANYTHING like our infrastructure.

The entire length of the pipeline is flown TWICE a day by helicopter and visually inspected by truck from one end to the other once a week.

That thing is better maintained than most children.

There are several earthquakes a day in Alaska. Most you can't feel, some you can. Part of the pipeline is underground and part is above ground on great metal gerters that are a little flexible for all the quakes.

But occasionally a quake or the extreme weather damages the pipeline. When I lived there some yahoo went around shooting holes in it..causing the oil to spew out.

They fixed that in no time flat.

If the pipeline is down for more than three days you can bet there is another reason, other than "maintenance." Like maybe driving oil prices or something. Because I know for a fact the maintenance is daily and non stop.

Tova7

on Aug 10, 2006

I will add one more thing.

I do agree its nuts to send money to another country before making sure our citizens needs are met at home. Especially a country filled with a significant number of people who hate us.

COL Gene

on Aug 10, 2006

The extent of the need to rebuild and in some cases replace the aging infrastructure is vast. I have read estimates that put the cost at over a TRILLION dollars. The rate at which the infrastructure is being rebuilt is far less then needed. The Electric Grid was shown this summer in the heat to be in trouble. Two years ago we had the failure of a portion of that grid but very little has happened to solve the problem. When we had the heavy rains there were several areas where dams were in danger. The age and condition of water and sewer system in our major cities is such that they could fail causing a catastrophe.

As I have pointed out we are misdirecting the resources of this country to areas that take the needed effort from where the real problems are and apply our resources to areas that do not come close to the real need. The Iraq War and the tax cuts are two that have diverted trillions of dollars that would have been far better spent. Today Bush said we are still in danger from terrorism. The truth is that we ARE doing much more to protect our country both on our own and in cooperation with other countries. However, the root cause of the terrorism, the sheer number of people willing to perpetrate this violence has increased and our policies in Iraq and in the Middle-East has caused the increase in those that would do us harm. We by our policies are making the task of protecting America MUCH harder because we are adding to the number of people that HATE us BECAUSE of our policies. Iraq and the wars in Lebanon and Gaza have not reduced the threat. They have increased the threat and made protecting us and other western countries MUCH harder.

Iraq is falling into all out civil war and the NEW enemies that will be created when the people of Lebanon see what Israel has done to that country will balloon. The REASONS why there terrorist groups are supported by the Islamic peoples are growing. The hate for America and Israel in the Moslem world in the past month has made our task to protect ourselves MUCH HARDER! We started in a BIG Hole with the Moslem world and we are digging the hole deeper as fast as possible!

kingbee

on Aug 11, 2006

BP is a client of ours. I know that what happened up north is not representative of their policies. BP is the most responsible party we deal with

not much of a recommendation for your other clients then.

March 17, 2005: BP agrees to an $81-million settlement to resolve charges that it illegally released toxic gases from its Carson refinery for nearly a decade.

March 23, 2005: An explosion at a BP oil refinery in Texas City, Texas, kills 15 and injures 170. The company later agrees to pay $21.4 million for safety violations linked to the blast.

Dec. 19, 2005: An Alaska state agency sues BP and Exxon Mobil, claiming that the companies restricted the nation's supply of natural gas to boost prices. A federal judge dismisses the suit in June 2006.

March 2006: About 270,000 gallons of crude oil spill from a corroded BP pipeline near Prudhoe Bay in northern Alaska.

April 6: A BP natural gas line on Alaska's North Slope ruptures.

April 25: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration fines BP $2.4 million for safety problems at its Toledo, Ohio, plant.

June 28: Federal investigators accuse BP of secretly cornering the U.S. propane market in the winter of 2004 to illegally manipulate prices, driving up heating costs for rural consumers.

July 18: BP announces it will close 12 oil wells on Alaska's North Slope as a precaution after whistle-blowers allege that more than 50 were leaking.

Link

MasonM

on Aug 13, 2006

When I lived there some yahoo went around shooting holes in it..causing the oil to spew out.

That was Bush.

Rightwinger

on Aug 13, 2006

I do agree its nuts to send money to another country before making sure our citizens needs are met at home. Especially a country filled with a significant number of people who hate us.

---Tova

Yeah, but we do this all the time. Every time an earthquake rattles some pissant little mountain village outside of BumFuck, Egypt (where the people have likely lived for centuries, yet somehow without learning how to build their structures to withstand such things), we send money, food, medical supplies, whatever. And STILL they want to bitch about us; burn our flag, keen and wail about how unjust and evil we are. Oh, but they'll take our food, medicines and supplies. And don't forget the money.
At least in Iraq, WE had the honor of being the earthquake.

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