A minor mistake results in injuries, infrastructure damage and residents fearing for more tragedy.
...Friday night's natural gas blast in one of New England's largest cities was caused by "human error," State Fire Marshal Stephen Coan said at a news conference. He didn't name the Columbia Gas worker who pierced the high-pressure pipe in Springfield.
The blast flattened a strip club, heavily damaged a day care center and scattered debris over several blocks.
Some officials called it a miracle that no one was killed. The cause of the spark that ignited the explosion is still unknown....
It is called a spark. It happens when something punctures metal. Personally, I think someone has a grudge against strip clubs. This is the second one in a week that ended the careers of local hopefuls. Look, there is always hope again with the next wet T-shirt contest.
...The gas company (click here) planned a news conference for later Sunday afternoon. A message left for a company spokeswoman wasn't immediately returned.
Most of the injured were part of a group of gas workers, firefighters and police officers who ducked for cover behind a utility truck just before the blast. Part of the neighborhood already had been evacuated because of reports of a gas leak and odor.
Preliminary reports showed the blast damaged 42 buildings housing 115 residential units. Three buildings were immediately condemned, and 24 others require additional inspections by structural engineers to determine whether they are safe.
Springfield, which is 90 miles west of Boston and has about 150,000 residents, is the largest city in western Massachusetts. It's known as the home of the Basketball Hall of Fame, which is not near the blast site....
So, at the news confernce did the natural gas company state what they are doing to make all their lines PUNCTURE resistant?
By Erin Ailworth
GLOBE STAFF
NOVEMBER 18, 2012
...From the Bay of Fundy to Long Island Sound, (click here) new technologies are harnessing the power of ocean tides and winds, promising not only an inexhaustible source of energy, but also hundreds of jobs, billions in revenues, and new life for struggling fishing communities along New England’s 473-mile coastline.
This future is still far off, but the first steps toward it are underway. Since September, an underwater generator built by a Maine company has used the powerful tides of Cobscook Bay near the Canadian border to make electricity distributed by local utilities. Researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, as well as universities in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, are working together to demonstrate similar technologies in the Cape Cod Canal and Muskeget Channel off Martha’s Vineyard....
Isn't it time to move more quickly into the future? Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and there is a question about what exactly? The location of the ocean currents or the technology that delivers the electricity? What is the problem already?
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