Plumes of Smoke and Slurry Highlight Dangers of Oil and Mining
The process of extracting and refining natural resources is often a messy and dangerous one. Events in Peru, Brazil, and California highlight this reality.
Two weeks ago in Peru, a pipeline carrying zinc and copper mineral slurry ruptured, shooting an 80 foot spray of mining material into the air. The disaster, which directly exposed 200 people to toxic materials, occurred 14,000 ft. in the Andes at the Antamina mine: one the world’s largest copper-zinc mines. The mine is owned by a collection of multinational firms including Xstrata, Teck Cominco LTd and Mitsubishi Corp.
On Monday, 6 Aug, another pipeline burst at Chevron’s Richmond refinery, creating an explosion and sending a plume of black smoke over the eastern skies of the San Francisco Bay. The leak began slowly, as workers tried to contain the problem without having to shut down the lines. "It wasn't visible, you wouldn't be able to see it or smell it. So at that point in time, there was really nothing that we could advise the community to do,” said Mark Ayers, the refinery’s chief of emergency services. But the leak caught fire, crippling the plant, which processes 1/8 of all west coast oil and is California’s third largest. Surrounding communities were forced to stay indoors to protect themselves from the toxic plume. The disaster marks the third leak in the last thirteen years. In 2007, another fire erupted for nearly 10 hours. Earlier in 1999, a blaze of toxic materials sent more than 1,200 Richmond residents to emergency rooms.
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More with Chevron oil spill in Brazil: http://revpana.wordpress.com/2012/08/09/plumes-of-smoke-and-slurry-highlight-dangers/
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