Posted on 02/21/2003 7:20:52 AM PST by LonePalm
I just turned and looked out my office window and saw a column of black smoke rising towards Union Beach/Perth Amboy NJ.
I then felt the force of an explosion rattle my window.
What, did the cheese plant blow up this week too? Obviously a terrorist conspiracy to bring FR to its knees!
All the socialist left wing pinko anti-American commie weasels, unpatriotic America hating insect eating gold buying semi-literate liberal dirtbag scum sucking doom and gloomer, cheese eaters and all their friends need to get off their fat lazy butts and start listening to the people who really know what they're talking about.
OK, now this is getting good.
Scenario: You overhear two middle easterners at a restaurant discussing their final purchase of a crop duster and one says, "Yes, we have the potion and we are ready to go."
How would you take that into your own hands and deal with it?
It may or may not be terrorism but it certainly is a target that lends itself to terrorists and their known modus operandi.
Jack-booted=unable to think or act outside of the RNC agenda, this goes for economics, foreign and domestic policy. Politics is more important than conservative principle...especially principles actually that work. Towing the party line in short.
BushBots=anyone who considers GWB the epitome of conservatism, blindly supports all policies/agendas coming from him, while convieniently ignoring socialist/globalist/unconstitutional components fo them in the name of "He's a better man than Clinton", or "Oh yeah? What do you think we'd have if Al Gore was president?" Demonize all criticism as pessimistic/liberal/un-American/anarchists/fatalists/libertines.
That about cover it?
I fueled a little while ago, near my lab in the northern suburbs of Detroit, and there was no indication of higher-than-usual fuel purchasing.
Anyone know of the congressman/representative that Fox had on speaking of how to react to this?
I didn't get his name, but what he said makes good sense to anyone who cares about this country:
"Err on the side of caution."
You be safe too. And enjoy those liberties we still have.
Huge Explosion Rattles Nerves
Feb 21, 2003 1:45 pm US/Eastern
(1010 WINS) (NEW YORK) An explosion rocked an oil storage facility at the edge of Staten Island on Friday, killing one worker and sending black smoke and flames hundreds of feet into the air. Authorities said there were no indications of terrorism.
A man's body was pulled from the water three hours after the fire started about 10 a.m., according to police spokesman Michael O'Looney. Another worker was still unaccounted for and a third suffered third-degree burns and was in critical condition, according to Mayor Michael Bloomberg and hospital officials.
The explosion occurred when a barge containing 100,000 barrels of unleaded gasoline was being offloaded at the 200-acre storage facility, which holds petroleum products including gasoline and heating oil, said Prem Nair, a spokeswoman for ExxonMobil, which owned the facility.
She would not speculate on the cause of the explosion.
At a Staten Island news conference, Bloomberg said the blaze was contained mainly on the water and on two barges -- the one that exploded and then sank, and another nearby barge that caught fire.
"The fire has basically been burning itself out," Bloomberg said. "There is absolutely no evidence and no reason this think at this moment that this is anything other than a tragic accident."
The barge was owned by Hicksville-based Bouchard Transportation, Bloomberg said. The company said no one was available to comment.
The mayor described the neighborhood as an industrial area, but said a small number of residents were briefly evacuated from their homes. He said the Department of Environmental Protection was monitoring air quality.
The explosion, which could be heard several miles away, occurred at the edge of Port Mobil Terminal, near the Outerbridge Crossing that links the island to Woodbridge, N.J., in the southwestern part of Staten Island.
"For a lot of people, the initial reaction was they thought it was another terrorist attack," said Rep. Vito Fossella, who represents Staten Island, which suffered heavy losses in the Sept. 11 attack.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters said the agency issued temporary flight restrictions on aircraft, barring them from within two miles of the explosion site and an altitude of 3,000 feet and below.
Staten Island residents gathered on street corners watching the plume of smoke about two miles away.
"I thought it was a terrorist attack," said Jennifer Wall, 28, who was videotaping the smoke as it floated over her home. "It was like thunder, but 20 times more vibrations. It shook the house."
The Coast Guard was assisting at the scene with about six boats and a helicopter, said Lt. Angela Cooper. She said the boats had not picked up any people in the water.
The fire sent petroleum futures skyrocketing. Ed Silliere, vice president of risk management at Energy Merchant in New York, said the storage facility was an important one for New York Harbor.
"We can't be losing this quantity at this time," he said. "You have to wait for the dust to settle because we don't know what the damage will be."
The facility faces onto Arthur Kill, the primary entrance into the Port of Newark, and one of the busiest waterways in the world. Coast Guard Lt. Angela Cooper, said the Coast Guard closed off Arthur Kill from Tufts Point to Wards Point, effectively shutting nearly the entire length of the waterway to shipping.
Exxon Mobil Corp. last March agreed to pay $11.2 million for allegedly mishandling benzene-contaminated waste at the storage and distribution terminal on Staten Island. The case, filed by the Justice Department in 1996 against predecessor Mobil Oil Corporation, had been scheduled to go to trial days before the settlement.
"That about cover it?"
I wondered what the hell those things were.
Thanks - learned something.
#:>)
This was not caused by Islamic jihad terrorists.
The Religion of Peace really truly is a religion of peace and all those who don't believe it are ignorant, stupid rednecks (that post jpegs all the time).
There really is no reason to worry or call the FBI about anything suspicious you hear or see, because it's all a big lie - there IS NOT A PROBLEM HERE FOLKS - it's all in the minds of reactionists.
Saddam Hussein really does love America and Bin Ladin didn't really mean to hurt anyone on 9/11.
And oh yeah, if you see multiple explosions occurring in New York, Midland Texas, Los Angeles and Detroit all at the same time, think nothing of it - just coincidences.
I don't want to sound too out there BUT, his description could support a crack or pop as well. In his office, he might not hear a pop but he did hear geese and then a rumble. At least I assume that he heard the geese or why would he have turned to see them. Clearly the geese were making noise (as if startled).
If this was done with explosives, a crack or pop would come first, then the rumble. I don't think the weaker but higher velocity blast wave from initiators or even boosters that far away would carry sound into his office.
After firmly securing my tinfoil hat I note that if it the sound of the rumble took several seconds from the time of hearing the geese that would allow plenty of time for the blast wave of an energetic booster to startle the geese well before the rumble. For instance, a cast nitro booster will send a wave at over 25,000 feet per second (depending on air density) the wave would travel over twenty times faster than the speed of sound. My tinfoil shrouded question is: What startled the geese?
02/21 13:03
New York Barge Explosion at Exxon Mobil Dock Hurts 1; 2 Missing
By Chitra Somayaji
New York, Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- A barge filled with gasoline exploded at an Exxon Mobil Corp. loading terminal on Staten Island, New York, causing a fire that was visible for miles. Two workers were missing and one was injured, company officials said.
Billowing smoke from the fire could be seen from as far away as Manhattan and central New Jersey. The explosion occurred about 10 a.m. New York time.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said there's ``no evidence or reason to believe it is anything but a very tragic industrial accident.'' Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, parent of Bloomberg News.
The barge held 100,000 barrels of unleaded gasoline that was being unloaded at the time of the explosion, said Tom Cirigliano, spokesman for Exxon Mobil, the world's largest publicly traded oil company.
The fire was contained, with a small area of fuel still burning, said New York City Fire Battalion Chief William Van Wart. ``We're letting the fuel burn itself out and dispersing foam on adjacent barges and surrounding areas.''
The loading terminal is on Staten Island's coastline, with only several feet separating the fire from the Arthur Kill waterway, which runs between Staten Island and New Jersey.
The waterway is ``closed to all traffic other than emergency vessels, and the Coast Guard is enforcing that,'' said Petty Officer Matthew Belson, a spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard.
Major Channel
The Arthur Kill is a major channel into Staten Island's Howland Hook Marine Terminal, said Stephen Coleman, spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Howland Hook is the fastest-growing terminal in the Port of New York and New Jersey, he said.
``Most things that people have in their house or go to the store to purchase comes through there,'' Coleman said. ``It's a very important waterway for us.'
New Jersey State Police officers are at the scene, along with New York firefighters, Belson said. The Coast Guard is helping to fight the fire with three large ``cutter'' firefighting boats and ``several'' 41-foot rescue boat crews, he said.
``There are no reports of anyone in the water,'' Belson said. The U.S. Coast Guard has established a security zone around the Arthur Kill waterway, he said.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation was monitoring the situation, spokesman Ed Cogswell said.
An injured man from the fire was admitted to the burn center at the 718-bed Staten Island University Hospital, spokeswoman Arleen Ryback said. The man, whom she didn't identify, is in critical but stable condition.
``It took a good five to 10 minutes before we saw the smoke,'' said Ryback. ``We're used to hearing explosions being so close to New Jersey, but after 9/11, I think people wondered what was happening.''
Oil Prices Surge
Crude oil prices jumped as the barge explosion threatened to disrupt supplies in the Northeast.
``The fire is next to a lot of oil storage,'' said Ed Silliere, vice president of risk management at Energy Merchant LLC in New York, which markets gasoline and heating oil to local distributors. ``This is an important shipping facility, which will probably be shut down for quite a while.''
Crude oil for April delivery was up 73 cents, or 2.1 percent, at $35.47 a barrel as of 12:13 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices were up 0.4 percent this week.
This unfortunate man has a great deal of vital information.
God help him recover and tell the whole story.
You said it so much better than I could have.:-)
Richard W.
It will be dealt with -- don't worry about it.
Keep in mind -- when the FBI was warned that there were a bunch of Middle Easterners in U.S. flight schools who were not interested in learning how to land airplanes, nothing was done.
Even worse -- the bastards who botched that one have not been fired or resigned in disgrace.
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