We're Nowhere Near Prepared for the Ecological Disaster That Harvey Is Becoming

[n2doc]

BY CHARLES P. PIERCE
AUG 30, 2017

SNIP:

Item: And this one may be my favorite, which is to say, the one that pushes me under the bed the furthest. On Galveston Island, there is the Galveston National Laboratory, which is part of the University of Texas Medical Branch. This laboratory contains some of the most deadly biological agents found in the known world, many of them of the airborne variety. It contain several Bio-Safety Level 4 labs, which are basically the places where plagues are studied. And here's the thing, as HuffPost explains—nobody knows what's going on there at the moment:

There has been almost no news from Galveston as journalists have reported being blocked from reaching the island because of severe flooding. There has been no reporting at all on the condition of the lab. A call to the laboratory on Tuesday immediately went to voicemail.

Here's a professor with some happy news.

But the generators run on fuel that would have to be replenished. It is not known if the lab is accessible to emergency crews to refuel the generators, which are stored on the roof, according to the 2008 Times piece. "As I see it the existential problem is this: What happens if and when the fuel for the back-up generators runs out?" asked University of Illinois professor Francis Boyle, an expert in biological weapons. "The negative air pressure that keeps (the) bugs in there ends. And (the) bugs can then escape."

Item: While the tragedy is vast and still unfolding, it was utterly and totally predictable. The Texas Gulf Coast has been Ground Zero for potential hurricanes since the Earth cooled and the continents separated. In 1900, a hurricane hit Galveston and killed 12,000 people. That one was a catastrophic surprise, there being no hurricane warning system at the time. This was after a similar storm had decimated nearby Indianola 25 years earlier. And yet…

the rest

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a57276/harvey-longterm-effects/

[saidsimplesimon]

1. k&r thank you

[titaniumsalute]

2. So why the fuck wouldn't these people keep these germ/bacteria vials

Somewhere safe like underground in Kansas??

[The_jackalope]

5. My bet is that it has something to do with politics.

[raven mad]

22. Absolutely my first thought, titaniumsalute.

Or up here - away from most people and hard to get to, so what? WTF were the folks thinking, who put this lab on an ISLAND, prone to FLOODS even in normal years??

[Zoonart]

3. Swell.

[shanti]

4. Which brainiac decided

that Galveston Island would be a most excellent place to study dangerous bio-organisms??

[n2doc]

8. Many times these labs are politically sited, I think

Pork for a Senator. There was another one on an island in Long Island sound, the idea I think being that it could be isolated in case of a loss of containment. Of course if it gets flooded, that is a different story.

[yardwork]

6. Why are deadly biological agents stored on an island?

That seems stupid.

[FSogol]

7. I'm not sure this reporting is accurate. I've designed BSL-3 and BSL-4 labs. A loss of electrical

power or the shutdown of emergency generators would not release materials. Those spaces have very sophisticated dampers and valves which fail closed on a loss of power. The labs do not rely on negative air pressure alone. I trust that the scientists secured the materials properly. Aside from major destruction of the building (think earthquake or explosion) it is safe.

[byronius]

12. That made me wonder as well. It's not so tenuous as described.

Unless, of course, you're talking Andromeda Strain rubber-eating bugs. That's end of game there.

[KewlKat]

9. kick

[BigmanPigman]

10. Rachel said on her show that the conditions are "serious"

which really mean "dangerous".

[WinkyDink]

11. What geniuses thought Galveston was a secure place?

[Politicub]

13. That's kind of a stupid place to store deadly pathogens

Not sure which Jr. Einstein thought of it, but, here's a crazy thought. If virus and germs need to be stored for study, how about putting them in facilities built outside of hurricane, tornado and earthquake-prone zones?

[dixiegrrrrl]

21. And not on a barrier Islands, which MOVE.

Those islands are actually mounds of sand which, over the years, form and re-form with wave action.
And they serve to slow down storms, by absorbing some of the water.

There is a fairly big one in the Gulf by Mobile Bay, and damned if they have not built very expensive homes all over it, which get blown down in a hurricane, then insurance pays to have them rebuilt so they can get blown away again.
Katrina cut the spit in half. Now there are 2 islands. And the people in the half that got isolated
raised holy hell, demanding the state dredge sand to recreate teh Island again.

So people build, literally, on shifting sands and sit in their very expensive houses convinced that nothing will change, ever, despite the warnings.
until it does, then they get outraged, and demand that someone else fix it for them.

edited to add a quote I stole from someone here...Warpy maybe, it seems apt

The trouble ain’t that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain’t distributed right.--Mark Twain

[kimbutgar]

14. Nor do we have any leaders at the federal level anymore

President Obama was excellent in calming people down and trying to solve problems. Now we have an incompetent person who wants it to be about him and not the people suffering. We are do screwed. If you live in a blue state you have competent people in red states you're screwed!

[elmac]

15. yep, we are leaderless

people will suffer, people will die and the trumpsters will still be lining up to reelect president dumbass in 2020.

[mrmpa]

16. "The Stand" by Stephen King.......

Captain Trips started in Texas when a contagious/dangerous bug escaped. It traveled outside the lab when a soldier saw what was happening and escaped with his family. The end of the line was when the soldier died at the wheel of his car and careened into gas pumps.

Captain Trips didn't die with the soldier. It became airborne.

Sorry, I've read the book probably a dozen times.

[GreenPartyVoter]

17. An excellent book by an excellent author. (But as a

Mainah, I am a bit biased. )

[KewlKat]

18. Kick, wonder if Rachel will cover any of this tonight?

[mountain grammy]

19. Recommended again and again

The truth from Charlie Pierce.

[Lucinda]

20. KNR

[dalton99a]

23. Excellent article.