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Chevron's Largest California Refinery "Immediate-Extreme-Health-Hazard" Fire Emergency
UPDATE: *CHEVRON RICHMOND REFINERY HYDROCRACKER EXPLODED: KPIX-TV, REFINERY SHUTDOWN, CAN PROCESS 244,000 BBL/DAY
Chevron's Richmond refinery, the largest refinery in California, is under a Level 3 Hazardous Material extreme immediate warning with local authorities advising local citizens to "to shelter in place, go inside, close all windows and doors, turn off all heaters, air conditioners and fans. If not using the fireplace, close fireplace dampers and vents, and cover cracks around doors and windows with tape or damped towels." As KTVU2 comments, it appears massive and out of control currently. Live KRON4 stream embedded.
- *2 DISTINCT PLUMES OF SMOKES OBSERVED EMITTING FROM CVX REFINERY
- *CHEVRON SPOKESWOMAN SAYS NOT SURE WHAT CAUSE OF FIRE IS :CVX US
- *CHEVRON RICHMOND REFINERY HAS EVACUATION ON EMISSIONS: FILING
Live Stream from KRON4...
and a broader perspective of the wind's influence...
and across the bay...
Click image below for live-stream...
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In a free market anyone that has the evidence to prove damages from the fire can claim them, which is why a company, not a corporation would limit this kind of liability naturally. However because;
1)We have crony capitalism/socialism the government will turn a blind eye, slap a small fee on them and it'll be business as usual as those that suffered get next to nothing if anything for Cheveron's neglagence.
2)Cheveron is a corporation which limits the liability of its owners and workers. Who done it? The non-existent entity called Cheveron. Can't exactlly lock them up if they end up killing anyone on accident.
The problem you have Rand isn't with Capitalism, it is with your understanding of it. Capitalism is about having an innate right to property. Which Socialism and Corporatism are actually in opposition to. I understand you want justice but everything but Capitalism doesn't come close to achieving just that.
I have no problem with capitalism. I have a problem with unregulated capitalism and letting the oligarchs run the show. I'd love to see the court system that would exist in your world. No corruption would exist because wealthy individuals don't bribe judges, and capitalists never risk human lives for profit and worry later about the cost.
So have you been telling us that this refinery exists because of unregulated capitalism? Are you telling us that there is more profit in a refinery on fire than one producing product?
We don't have unregulated capitalism. Even "unregulated" capitalism as you put it is not "unregulated". Capitalism regulates itself because of liability, an accident that killed workers and citizens would end a company. And further more Capitalism is only "free market" Capitalism if it is "unregulated" as you so deftly put it.
You still don't get the difference. Some how in "your" world regulations magically fix things. They don't. The only thing regulations do are legalize fraud and create incompetence. A regulation is as much designed to "protect" consumers as it is designed to protect the corporations from litigation. Think about it, if any company complies to the "standards" set by the government (who can also be corrupted) then how can they face litigation if they were complying with the law? It is double speak Rand. Regulation is a political word for protecting corporate interest plain and simple.
I would never deny that free market Capitalism does not prevent corruption in any institution, what it does instead is strip many institutions of their power to keep abuse to a minimum.
+1
"I have no problem with capitalism. I have a problem with unregulated capitalism."
I think you are confused...
What you meant to say is that YOU only want "capitalism" if YOU can decide the rules.
Please define what you want again?
Make mine freedom - cartoon by Harding College.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVh75ylAUXY
Ayn Rand Interview.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ooKsv_SX4Y
Somebody Angry? - Jack Chick Tract
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1055/1055_01.asp
Please enlighten us with your proposal for ending the US-government-enforced oil cartel.
Cut off the oil cartel's funding of the politicians.
how about you get your fat lard ass off the couch and start walking to the corner 7-eleven instead of jumping into your Hummer for a 45 yard drive to get a pack of cigs?
But beware of the Zimmerman.
Wait, the dude is on the piss with a half bottle of J&B gone. Best he doesnt drive.
Clearly, we are suffering from insufficient regulation. We need more more more regulation.
In fact, I think we need to nationalize all these dangerous chemical processing plans, in order to eliminate the evil profit motive! That'll fix everything.
Clearly, this fire was caused by too much regulation. Good thinking. Deregulate now because Chevron has the public interest at heart. That will fix everything.
No, the fire was probably caused by greed, corruption, and incompetence. Or a random accident.
Good thing those are extremely rare outside the private sector.
Hey, wasn't Cheyrnobyl operating over the oversight of the people's collective?
Yes, as you correctly note the only options are communism or free-for-all.
The BP oil spill was caused by corporate greed in the form of a lack of safety mechanisms that could have prevented the accident. Many governments around the world require those mechanisms, but unfortunately the U.S. did not (not enough regulation). We'll see what caused this one. Of one thing I am certain -- it was not caused by public union pensions, though plenty of public union firemen are risking their lives right now to put it out while your sorry ass sits at a keyboard and says "shit happens."
while your sorry ass sits at a keyboard and says "shit happens."
Pot meet Kettle...
"Many governments around the world require those mechanisms, but unfortunately the U.S. did not (not enough regulation)."
Your stunning inability to understand that the government could, with the stroke of a pen, take the oil cartel out of existence, and in its place create a market in which there is actual competition, simply defies belief. If you are dumb enough that there is not enough regulation, there is exactly one party to blame - the regulators. What? They can be bribed by corporations? NO SHIT!
"Of one thing I am certain -- it was not caused by public union pensions"
Well if that's not the most irrelevant distraction ever. Can you not understand that, in the universe, at any given time, more than one thing can be happening, and only some of them will be directly causally related? Why bring your sacred obese cow into this? For a ludicrous quip about massively overcompsenated firemen being heroes? They're extortionists, coincidentally they provide some, albeit poor- for the price, service to the community. If they're such heroes, let them take a voluntary pay cut, or, better yet, tell the local government to end the state monopoly on firefighting services. Heroes? Just more public union thugs making you feel guilty for not paying a sufficient bribe.
Heroes:
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — City leaders are outraged by the actions of a fire department battalion chief.
Pittsburgh Fire Battalion Chief James Washabaugh has been arrested three times now – in West Virginia, Florida and Pennsylvania – each time for assault and threats on his longtime girlfriend.
“Absolutely he’s dangerous,” Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Michael Huss said. “He gets to the point where I understand it becomes very physical and it’s not the first time. And like I said, he’s had this problem in three different states.”
Washabaugh was arrested at Washington Plaza Apartments over the weekend. Police reports indicate he spit on his girlfriend and threw her to the floor.
He was arrested at the same place in 2008, accused of punching his girlfriend and threatening to kill her. A man who does not wish to be identified says she was hospitalized twice from the beatings.
“I know of at least two incidents – one in West Virginia and one in Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh,” the man told KDKA-TV by phone. “Yep, beat her in West Virginia. I had to go down and pick her up in the hospital in West Virginia.”
“Oh, bruises all over the body, blood,” the man continued.
Washabaugh, a veteran of more than 25 years on the fire department, works out of the East Liberty fire house. He was put on administrative leave in 2008. He’s on unpaid leave now.
City leaders cannot fire Washabaugh. He has the legal right to what’s called a “trial board.” All of the members are firefighters.
“We’re frustrated,” Huss said. “We can’t fire him. Under state law he’s entitled to a trial board made up of three of his peers that have to make that decision. It’s about time they weight this. They cut him breaks in the past. They need to take a look at this, step up to the plate and get rid of this guy.”
Why wouldn't the woman just get a new boyfriend? Jeez, wimmen!!
It's all good...don't trip....
Thanks for the heads-up, Tylers. Just sent the wife out to fill up her car- no telling if this will impact Wisconsin, but it doesn't hurt to front run this at least a little bit.
Watching this live just shows how retarded people actually are
"JR are people leaving their homes?"
"Well i cant really see anything at all, but i certainly think it would take a long time to leave your home and there are alot of people in a big community so they might be leaving their homes"
reads exactly like the south park episode
"tom what is happening down there"
"we are reporting looting and rapes"
"you can actually see looting and rape"
"no we are just reporting looting and rapes"
Art imitating life, imitating art perhaps?
OMG it's Knight's algo gone wild!!!!!!!!!!!!! Turn off the machines already
Nationally it may not effect overall capacity but the impact on California already tettering economy maybe another story. They can't really due with another loss of revenue. Could be trouble for Chavez as well as it is only one of two or three refineries capabable of refining Venezuala's heavy sulpher laden oil.
I don't know that rational rules apply to gasoline.
I did the math, and from the info I could find, it looks like this is only about 1.4% of daily output for the US- but if people get spooked, the price will go up far more than that.
It may be 1.4% for the US, however it's a huge hole for California. Locally the price is doomed to spike along with all the related items that are shipped to California stores.
Synchronicity
Hi all, love this site, been reading for a couple years. That being said I luv pirating, so the subject matter here is right up my barquentine. Cracking units are not something that is usually kept in stock as a spare part-. Fabrication will probably take place in Korea and then shipped here, about 6-9 months of down time at least... $5/gallon by the weekend??
I always question whether these refinery explosions are really accidents or something more insidious. I'm sure the media would let us know if that was the case.
I'd bet on bad/deferred maintenance or unqualified people before anything nefarious.
Since we are busy bringing peace to the world, one cannot fathom anyone being PO'ed at us enough to do somethng bad.
Now if another refinery goes up, then it's uh-oh time.
Maybe you should google how many refinery explosions there have been over the past few years.
If you googled the number of buildings that have burned down or fell down, in China, you'd probably find that firework negligence and shoddy building materials were the primary causes. How can America be any different?
Then again, I'm sure somewhere in the F.I.R.E racket, someone is quids in.
Looks like Oklahoma recently.
Difference being that burning mother natures stuff does not cause poisoious smoke. It does not smell good, but it is not going to kill you either.
BTW: at least one of the fires here is being reported as caused by arson. There are several witnesses to a Ford F-150 pickup truck, whose inhabitants were observed throwing lit newspapers out the windows. 56 homes were burned out due to some f--kin asshat tossing burning rags out a truck window!
Hope someone whose home burned down catches them before the police do. ;-)
This must not be real or a big deal as I see little mention of this in the major media outlets.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/07/us-refinery-fire-chevron-richmond-idUSBRE87602Y20120807
They are a little busy at the moment pumping tomorrows good news.
10:57pm and still no word on Drudge.
Now we know who's paying his hosting fees.
My thoughts exactly when I made the post above yours.
His trolls are too busy being paid to junk me I guess.
When a site has no ads like DR you know you are the product.
News sites pay him to post content because of the high volume of redirected traffic to their sites. That's why he can post WSJ articles and you can read the whole article (normally the articles are blocked unless you are a paid customer)
And NO MSM news has this yet: reuters, fox, cnn, huffington post, associated press, etc etc etc
So STFU cry baby.
When I see you graduate from the comment section to the content section, then maybe I'll think about taking you seriously.
I don't care how he gets paid - either you report breaking news like Durden or you don't like Drudge.
Now GTFOOH and go check Monica Lewinsky's dress for jizz.
L0L!!! bob_d deserves you!
you are like one of these guys who loves fightClub and then posts what he's watching on TV
how many times have you clucked er... clicked on drudge today? was it only to make sure he wasn't covering the breaking news?
you have one of the finest ad hominems i have yet seen:
if bob_d wrote a piece about the jizz and got it published on puffHo would you go down on him again for us?
two to a fight i know...
and i think bob_d is a little R of atilla's mother-in-law so the stuff abt monica was appropriate as hell...
didn't you subscribe to his blog after he top-called gold and phonied up the trade to pretend he didn't get stopped out when the SNB devalued the CHF and gold spiked that nice $10 boner just b4 the epic bankster gold takedown of the new century?
this top here, same as this here one, too btw
he called that almost to the tick in real time right here in riverCity; he is a crimex kinda guy! that gold call is right up there with ori's call last year when the mkt went south w/ mercury going retrograde
and he does command all that chamber of commerce mindset too, ya gotsta admit...
Yeah drudge sold out long ago.
I feel that way, too.
I took a look "under the hood" of his website.
The amount of cookies and tracking software on that site is mind blowing, and it has this simple "no-nonsense" look to it. Hah.
is this related to the Assad thing from yesterday?
Gonna be funny to see Bernanke attempt to "jawbone" down California gas prices.
He'll fail at first, and after a few weeks, he'll start hinting that "QE is finished" and the CRB Index will go into an immediate meltdown, retail stocks will bounce back, and many will seek safety in U.S. Treasuries in the temporary carnage in equities.
Here is a much better live feed. The helicopter engine runs on love and hope so it can stay aloft for ever
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Fire-Erupts-at-Richmond-Refinery-16...
edit: whoops I guess the chopper is out of love and hope is headed back to the airport for a refill. nevermind.
Money Squid FTW!
Edit: I think it's running on hope and change, and they just ran out of change. Hope's next.
that is the sacramento river coming into the sfBay and there are more refineries upstream on the same side of the creek
about 20 years ago, billGraham's helicopter went down: upstream of the fire here, up toward the refinery inMartinez, i believe
anyhow, we have no oil wells to speak of and diFi, babs, & the doe-eyed pelosi will get re-elected until they cave on offshore drilling which will be: never
probably the most spectacular mishap in the area (besides sirFrancisDrake discovering theMarin coast but not the sfBay) was the Port Chicago disaster of 1944 when a munitions ship went up and of course, the conspiracy theory behind it, too... :> Port Chicago Disaster (Morgana's Observatory)
If the explosion was filmed at the Port Chicago site, it would follow that the explosion was planned and anticipated. The July 1944 blast caused a crater 66 feet deep ... <: {endPaste] and even better:> Port Chicago A MUSHROOM CLOUD. What really happened at Port Chicago in 1944, a nuclear explosion? By Harry V. Martin Copyright FreeAmerica and Harry V. Martin, 1995 <: but you can imagine how the naval investigation went... here's the "after" photo of the docks: Portchicago.jpg; mareIsland is on the other side of the river, just downstream fromBenicia and a few miles upstream from this richmond fire; it became a nukuler sub base; i went to a wedding at the officers' club there in the late 70's and i think they had wound down the sub-base thingy and the secrecy, too after port chicago blew the fuk upskie they moved the munitions dock across to mare island people refused to go back to to work (something abt the racial make-up of the loading crews, lack of training, the lies about the hazards, the usual happy happy, joy joy?) after that '44 explosion and there were 50 mutiny convictions and prison sentences handed down thurgoodMarshall of the NAACP handled the appeals; all the convicted sailors were black 320 sailors & civilians were killed in the explosion, 390 injured; most of the dead servicemen were black, also ...if we build it, there will be a disaster...If we would have had a carbon tax, this could have been prevented.
Signed,
Batrrick OBomber, Jr.
Over/Under on 24 hours before Obama attacks "speculators" and "price gaugers" ??
were you trying to communicate? I am too distrcted by your boobitar to notice
Live KRON-4 link:
http://www.ustream.tv/kron4news
If you're in California get ready for $4.75 gas (again).
I hope that no Snowy plovers caught harmed or I may go postal. Going to have to float a bond to cover pension losses. Soon some Chinese wokers will get pulled of the Bay bridge project to help here..Will need more money for the High speed tain too. Send some mental health professionals..maybe a lot. So in the mean time raise The gas tax. Prop 13 will now be overturned. This will harm Faceboo and Kight Capital. Stock up on stuuf like booze. The Manatees are screwed.
Short oil and buy RBOB?
Or buy both?
BTW - Bush's fault.
Has not made it to the CNBS home page. Maybe in a day or two. News travels west to east.....Dube.
Has not made it to the CNBS home page. Maybe in a day or two. News travels west to east.....Dube.
Love the smell of burning refinery fumes in the morning.
But the real question is how will the campaigns use this in their infortainment ads.
My bet is that the next Obama ad will say that, if elected, Romney willl burn down more refineries, because he hates gays and people of color.
And a Romney ad will say that Obama will replace oil refineries with tin hats with spinning propellors.
When a whale farts in the gulf gas goes up $.50 in Ohio. So I expect $4.75 tomorrow at the gas stations by me, it is already $3.90.
Ohio is notorious for price fixing and gouging.
We've been assraped so hard for so long, even Michelle's dick can slide right in with no resistance.
Amazing. 2 1/2 hours and still nothing on the MSM. If Kim K. farts in somebody's face it would be on there in under 10 minutes.
If she farted it would leave a bigger vapor trail than CVX Richmond.
We're talking a Krapatoa-level extinction event..
Her ass is that tight eh?
Relax. It's not another Fukushima. But I understand they want you to be afraid.
Sucks to lose a hydrocracker, especially with these nat gas prices. But I was waiting, waiting for CVX to dip for a buy. Looks like we'll have it.
Ya well when these hydorcarbon fumes hook up with the with the Fukushima radiation Napa is going to produce wine with notes of sulphur dioxide and will glow in the dark...cool
Ya well when these hydorcarbon fumes hook up with the with the Fukushima radiation Napa is going to produce wine with notes of sulphur dioxide and will glow in the dark...cool
So this is the excuse to add another 50 cents at the pump in the morning?
This was completely unpredictable, just as the BP Gulf incident.
From August 1:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/01/refinery-operations-chevron-ri...
Nice link.
"You didn't smoke that."
Gas prices will sky rocket along with gold, silver and all metal as USD will be down.
http://www.freefdawatchlist.com/2012/08/dow-s-and-nasdaq-expected-to-open-low.html
This ABC7 NEWS live feed seems to be working:
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/livenow?id=8763930
Looks like they got it under control now. Professional Firemen there deserve a pat on the back
...don't forget the paralegals that rushed to the scene to treat injuries !
O'Bush's fault. Totally...
why don't they just put the fire out the good old fashioned bankster way.
add more fuel and tell everyone that there's no fire anymore and everything is fine.
Well hell-on-earth has to start somewhere.
Might as well be the East Bay.
(coincidentally also the pig latin for 'Beast')
Bring on the PBR.
The hydrocracker is not involved. That event happened in March 2006. This is the #4 Crude Unit, as per CVX's press release. The fire would have involved crude oil burning.
Explosions at refineries happen on an unregular basis. Although this looks horrible, it has happened before.
I just toured that faculty few weeks ago. that thing is an engineering industrial marvel. built up over decades. they had small fire this winter and that place went through a major check up and inspection with a fine tooth comb very recently.
what pisses me off is that facility has been working towards upgrades for a while. and the damn city keeps knocking the project down.
I agree with you. I worked on the upgrade there in 08
Based on what I can see using Google Satellite I think engineering industrial clusterfuck would be a more appropriate description.
It blows up every several years. Nothing to see here.
I wonder which variety of industrial controllers the refinery used to run it's #4 Crude Unit? Siemens?
Now that Stuxnet has been around a while, all interested parties will have copies of the disassembled code.
It's a bit early to look for patterns, but here's an event sequence worth bearing in mind:
* India does 'gold for oil' deal with Iran.
* India suffers major power grid failures.
* US stockmarket HFT software goes berserk, does significant market damage. (Any Indian programmers involved?)
* Mass shooting at US Sikh temple, authorities claim one shooter, eyewitnesses report 4 coordinated shooters.
* Californian refinery has major whoopsie.
If this sort of thing keeps happening, I'd say we're in a tit-for-tat escalation.
What's next? HAARP powers up and coincidentally a major earthquake occurs in India?
Wait until we find out some extremist environmental group is involved in this, nah they would never tell us if they were.
The Chevron spokeman is not sure what the cause of the fire is? How about, YOU OPERATE A FUCKING PETROLEUM REFINERY, BITCH. What do you think the cause is !
Maybe they were just filming something? They do a lot of films and stuff out there. I wanna go out there, I think I'd fit in. I'd *love* to get a show, it would be hilarious. Should I?
Who's got the marshmallows? Oh... and don't forget the imminent MASS ARRESTS... http://tinyurl.com/cd5cyjo/
I would like to know how much sulfuric acid went up. Alot, if reports of an odor and yellow sky were correct.
Phase II is setting up as the dust settles and light rain falls or even a morning dew will start it off. Looks like a couple mile radius will have the most dust. I am gonna guess there is not alot of covered off street parking ...
Mayor Bloomberg just slammed President Obama and Mitt Romney for their silence on the need for a new Refinery Ban law.
[/sarc off]
I've driven through this area looking at homes. Glad I didn't move there. I hope later today protestors in San Francisco and Oakland will be banning together to string up Chevron executives by their nuts. I bet the suburbanites in their cookie cutter townhomes didn't expect to get the Bopal treatment when they went to bed last night.
IT'S HAPPENING
Damn,
3 pages of comments and nobody has yet blamed the Israelis or Jews in general?
Is the Stormfront contingent on vacation?
We know there has to be a Rothschild with a Masonic cigarette lighter somewhere in the vicinity.
So disappointing.