Posted on 05/08/2011 5:38:20 PM PDT by neverdem
Ping
I live a few hours east of Centralia, and would like to check it out. As far as I can tell there are a few buildings still standing, and a few holdouts still living there. I know there is at least one cemetery there as well; I wonder if people are able to visit.
Amazing. Kind of reminds me of the exploding whale in Oregon.
Why not try to do something useful with it, like power a geothermal energy plant?
What is the method proposed now to quench the fire? Simply strip mining it would open up a huge barbecue.
“Kind of reminds me of the exploding whale in Oregon.”
That was hysterical!
I personally think the best symbol of government incompetence near me is Doodletown, NY. This little settlement along the Hudson River was on the edge of the Palisades Interstate Park system, and the government wanted it for the park. They bought lots as they went on the market, but couldn’t get it all, so they “eminent domained” the residents out who resisted selling in the mid-1960s.
Their land was to be used for a ski area of the park, but that never materialized and now there are just crumbling roads & foundations left (they pulled down the residences). Whoever masterminded that should be imprisoned for a long time - some of these families had been in the area prior to the American Revolution.
I’ve stopped there, was on the overlook area, just abandoned - you can see the footprint from the homes that were there. There were a lot of vents putting out a nice aroma and a fair amount of heat
I never heard of that...
OMG. TYPICAL. Grrrrr....used Eminent Domain and didn’t even get anything from doing that.
All the people responsible probably retired with big, fat paychecks.
I've noticed as I do genealogical work on the family tree that almost everyplace they settled for any length of time it's been turned into a park ~ frequently a national park.
Naw, we didn't inherit any of that stuff. They were too busy moving West.
You should be able to kill this fire by pumping in Halon gas.
Oh wait, they banned Halon as being a “Greenhouse gas”!
That should be another candidate for the stupidity award, I wonder what they use to protect computer rooms now?
The article proposes a solution that would probably work, and at little to no taxpayer expense.
But then some “Evil corporation” might make a profit, and an American energy source would be utilized, cannot have that!
We live a couple of hours south of Centralia and have checked it out from time to time over the past 20 years. It used to be very dramatic, with eerie scifi plumes of smoke rising out of the wasteland of dead forest. Lately it hasn’t been that dramatic - only a puff here or there that looks like someone’s poorly-extinguished campfire. The ghost town is a haunting experience, though: empty town blocks with the occasional stand-alone rowhouse guarding pale memories of families long gone. And very, very quiet.
Gee that was simple and it only took about two minutes to figure out.
Yes..and there will be people visiting graves on Memorial Day, so if you get the chance to go then, you might meet them. One of my visits a few years ago encountered some families.
There isn't one.
Anyone can write a column and make up stuff.
As wonderful as the free-market is, and Ayn Rand notwithstanding, unfettered capitalism isn't magic. There's no financial reason for a company to go in and mine that coal, and the technologies to put it out have failed miserably. Nobody has any serious answer.
It's difficult to build on an ever-changing, ever-expanding, unevenly settling footprint that melts pavement and emits toxic fumes including hydrogen sulfide and sufuric acid.
But Mr. Aszkler has it all figured out. <sarc>
I'm not a fan of Big Government or Collectivism, but this column neatly ignores the fact that it was a basically unregulated private enterprise that created this disaster.
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