07-14-2008, 07:28 AM
quote:Silkwood spoke to the disregard of big business for health concerns and the SOP of burying information that casts an unfavorable light on safety procedures. It is relevant enough, but I wasn't trying to present it as an exact analogy, because it isn't.
Silkwood involved nuke material and is not relevant here.
quote:I believe they have been mocked rather than listened to, and I don't know what they have requested or not. Some of the issues I read about are "conditons at birth" and as such, relocation is not going to undo it.
Did any of these people request relocation through the fund, and could they today?
quote:Vog is primarily a sulfur dioxide issue. PGV's emissions have been primarily low level Hydrogen Sulfide. Hydrogen sulfide is a neurotoxin -- deadly at certain levels, such as the accident at Bhopal. S02 affects the lungs. Neurotoxins at low but chronic levels have not been well studied and it's pretty much impossible to prove causation.
All of Puna is getting dosed with vog, Volcano is really bad sometimes, and has been since 83, but no deaths directly because of it.
quote:well, this is an additional risk, and a scarier one, because it's a different toxin.
Anyone who lives in Puna is taking some health risk, actually all the way to Kona and on occasion Oahu.
Re accidents: my concern is that if the volcano goes off on that part of the risk, the wells would blow, and the area would get blanketed by hydrogen sulfide. Again, see BHOPAL. The winds would carry it faster than any evacuation could proceed.
quote:A little harsh. Easier for some folks than others.
If they are experiencing health problems, move.
So what are you saying, really? It's OK for this commercial venture to make residential areas toxic or toxic to some residents?
I think that when they located this venture, which Inouye pushed for, the folks on Oahu didn't give two figs for the population of Puna. Maybe they still don't, but the population of Puna is no longer small and on the fringe.