Godlike Productions - Discussion Forum
Users Online Now: 1,973 (Who's On?)Visitors Today: 992,600
Pageviews Today: 1,774,120Threads Today: 762Posts Today: 13,518
08:06 PM


Back to Forum
Back to Forum
Back to Thread
Back to Thread
REPORT COPYRIGHT VIOLATION IN REPLY
Message Subject Brkg> Houston Ship Channel Suddenly Closes till 10/5 = DOT?!
Poster Handle Anonymous Coward
Post Content
Doesn't look strange to me. Safety issue - shut the facility down for 2 days. Expensive, but not that huge.
 Quoting: Anonymous Coward 1070840


Dude, either you didn't read the link or must not understand what this is actually about & what is being claimed by officials as the reason for closing the entire channel = there is NO facility involved! Simply a downed power line from a tower that was hit in barge incident this morning & the quoted article says clearly that the power in the line has been "secured" = juice cut off. Now why would they do this drastic measure to close the channel off (nothing in or out ) completely when there is a dead power line that could be either fished out of the water or have weights attached to send it to the bottom & out of the way - huh? Nope, not buying it! This channel is one of the busiest ports in the USA + listed as one of the top ports in the world for petrochemicals !!!!

See this link:

PORT OF HOUSTON
[link to en.wikipedia.org]

QUOTE SNIP - FAIR USE:

The Port of Houston is the port of Houston, Texas, the fourth-largest city in the United States. The Port is a 25-mile-long complex of diversified public and private facilities located a few hours' sailing time from the Gulf of Mexico. It is the busiest port in the United States in terms of foreign tonnage, second-busiest in the United States in terms of overall tonnage, and sixteenth-busiest in the world.[2] Though originally the port's terminals were primarily within the Houston city limits, the port has expanded to such a degree that today it has facilities in multiple communities in the Greater Houston area. In particular the port's busiest terminal, the Barbours Cut Terminal, is located in Morgan's Point, Texas.

The Port of Houston consists is a cooperative entity consisting of both the port authority, which operates the major terminals along the Houston Ship Channel, and more than 150 private companies situated along Buffalo Bayou and Galveston Bay.[3] Many petroleum corporations have built refineries along the channel where they are partially protected from the threat of major storms in the Gulf of Mexico. The petrochemical complex associated with the Port of Houston is one of the largest in the world."[4]

END QUOTE - much more @ link

Note in above snip that the Houston Ship Channel is claimed to be "the busiest port in the United States in terms of foreign tonnage" ........ and so, from a security perspective, that translates into easy penetration by foreign vessels & crew (aka "terrorists" or foreign "operatives" ) that are entering in & out 24/7 every day of the year.

=============

From my own trips there, I know that the Houston Ship Channel is a vast expanse of sea water, starts as a natural inlet on the east side of Galveston Island & there is a Texas DOT Ferry there that goes across it over to Bolivar Peninsula (= Bolivar was hit bullseye by Hurricane Ike last year).

This inlet then extends north / northeast and eventually becomes more narrow where it was dredged out to accomodate large vessels & almost reaches the eastern side of downtown Houston (that fact also is serious risk for terrorist' strikes along with the city being the HQ of GHWB #41 nowadays while Jr is just 5 hours north on I-45 up in Dallas).

The ship channel is flanked by towns like La Marque, Texas City, League City, Clear Lake (NASA's JSC + Kemah Board Walk area are on west side), Webster, Pasadena, Baytown, + more. The channel services a huge area, with miles & miles of enormous CHEMICAL PLANTS one after another (and enormous ones like the Exxon-Mobile Plant @ Baytown, BP, Bio-diesel refinery etc etc).

[ Note: To get an idea of what could happen, look up the 1947 blast in Texas City that broke windows for hundreds of miles around & is considered "the worst industrial accident in American history" <-- quote from link below)

[link to en.wikipedia.org] ]


I've been up this ship channel by boat + driven through the miles of chemical plants many times ... it is absolutely mind boggling & quite scary experience too... so toxic, so dangerous, with gigantic ground tanks filled w/ chemicals that stretch as far as you can see any direction & many of the various refineries & chemical processing plants are so big that they seem like something from sci-fi novels. And smokestacks all over 24/7 release effluent vapors & various pipes with burning flames burning gas releases that reach far up in the sky & can see those everywhere too, even from I-45 driving to Galveston from Houston.

There are facts & also map of this channel at this site below:

[link to www.swg.usace.army.mil]

This article below gives overview of how vast, tremendously dangerous & toxic the area is + some photos too. A person needs to see this area to really understand what is at stake and how this is an extremely vulnerable target area = one explosive type incident in a strategic location could set off chain reactions that would make the 9-11 events on Sept 9, 2001 look like a little birthday candle sputtering.

12/16/09: A Quiet Hell (= 7 pages)

[link to www.houstonpress.com]
 
Please verify you're human:




Reason for copyright violation:







GLP