Tuesday, August 26, 2008

One or Two Things...

Today from Reuters:

"Twelve states, including New York, are suing the Environmental Protection Agency over greenhouse gas emissions from oil refineries."


This is certainly one of those stories that makes you wonder about what is actually going on in this country...

"The suit, filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, said about 15 percent of industrial emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, came from the refineries."

This from the EPA mission statement:
"EPA's mission is to protect human health and to safeguard the natural environment—air, water, and land—upon which life depends. For more than 30 years, the EPA has been working for a cleaner, healthier environment for the American people."

Turns out Massachusetts, my state, is one of the states involved in the suit.

I'm always intrigued when I find gaps in information... I found some sort of site I haven't spent too much time on called "Refinery Reform Campaign." It's strange, though, they have a pull down map of American refineries and Massachusetts is not on the list. Seemed strange that Massachusetts would be part of the suit if there weren't any refineries here... for a minute I was even more impressed with Ted Kennedy than usual...

So I started looking around...

Turns out there's an oil refinery right around the corner -- right near the closest zoo and the 2500 acre park we went to for Mother's Day with the kids and grandmothers...

Leaves of Northern Red Oak


Turns out, too, there was an oil refinery fire in 1915 here -- this has nothing much to do with anything except I suppose to say we have had refineries for a long time here -- and to say $25,000 doesn't buy what it used to...

Oil Refinery Burns

During the rush hours of the morning yesterday the refinery of the Indian Oil Company, at 35 Central wharf, Boston, caught fire. The interior of the building was destroyed, the damage being set at $25,000. Three alarms were ordered and all of the intown fire-fighting apparatus was used to drown out the flames. Immense clouds of heavy oil smoke made the fire a most difficult one to fight, and the firemen were constantly pushed back until they were forced to man their streams of water from neighboring roofs.

The fire started in the basement of the building, shot up through the elevator shaft and mushroomed through the three floors. Other buildings in the vicinity were threatened and the Portland and Gloucester steamships at the piers nearby, were made ready to be pulled out into the stream.

Boston Morning Journal, Boston, MA 2 Mar 1915


I don't know -- someone asked me to explain myself the other day -- explain this project -- maybe it's part art project part environmental project part communications project... I love the way all this stuff comes.

No comments: