Coronavirus, Covid 19

Doonesbury peeks inside Capitol Hill

[This Doonesbury cartoon puts a predictable and funny-sad twist on the COVID pandemic. I can’t vouch for Garry Trudeau’s 43%, but I found several studies (see below) that confirm his analysis. Enjoy (?) the cartoon… – BenIndy Contributor Roger Straw]

Doonesbury, by Garry Trudeau

Doonesbury, by Gary Trudeau, November 26, 2023
Two important scientific studies:

Journal of the American Medical Association: Excess Death Rates for Republican and Democratic Registered Voters in Florida and Ohio During the COVID-19 Pandemic, July 24, 2023.

“The differences in excess mortality by political party affiliation after COVID-19 vaccines were available to all adults suggest that differences in vaccination attitudes and reported uptake between Republican and Democratic voters may have been a factor in the severity and trajectory of the pandemic in the US.”

Science Direct: The politics of COVID-19: Differences between U.S. red and blue states in COVID-19 regulations and deaths, November 11, 2023.

“CONCLUSION: …this work’s key conclusion is that mass-behavioral changes prescribed through legislation do provide mass-scale dividends in areas that promote these strategies. In highlighting the political divide between COVID-19 legislative and mitigation efforts, researchers do not intend to proselytize one ideology to another but to expand on the notion that differences between dominant political affiliations are equally relevant to consider. Diseases have demonstrated no partisan allegiance, past or present. The individual role of citizens is not without consequence, but to ultimately lessen the aversive effects of COVID-19 and other viral threats in the United States, it is necessary to behave collectively. Given the compelling evidence of mass-behavioral mitigation efforts being successful in pandemic remediation, further legislation should focus on best communicating and implementing these strategies across political landscapes. Focusing on effectively implementing mitigation strategies across ideologies should be paramount if communities are to address disease-based threats with minimal loss and aversive outcomes.”

More COVID on the Benicia Independent…

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Clean Air Act, Refinery fire, Refinery safety

“It sounded like a bomb went off”: Residents react after White Lake refinery explosion

[Note from BenIndy: Another day, another refinery explosion. Take  a minute to review the drone footage available below. Particularly striking in this article was the resident quoted as admitting that she and many of her neighbors were unaware that they lived in close proximity to a refinery. This is not uncommon in refinery towns, including Benicia. What if there had been an urgent need to evacuate nearby residential neighborhoods? Situations like this demonstrate just how important clear, timely, and accurate communication between industrial/corporate interests, local government, local media, and the general public is to protecting the health and safety of refinery-town residents. An informed and engaged community is a safer and healthier community.]

Drone footage of explosion in White Lake Township. | CBS Detroit.

CBS Detroit, by Luke Laster, November 26, 2023

WHITE LAKE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) – White Lake police and township fire officials are working to discover the cause of an explosion at a refinery plant in White Lake Friday night.

It happened shortly before 10:30 p.m. in the area of Young Road and Bogie Lake Road.

It took a few hours before crews put it out, and White Lake Township’s fire chief, John Holland, says they don’t yet know what caused the flames.

“Everything shook. I was afraid. I didn’t know what the heck was happening,” says White Lake resident Chelsea Vanhorn.

Vanhorn lives in Cedarbrook Estates, a mobile home park just over a mile away from the fossil fuel recovery plant owned and operated by Hound Resources.

“My plants fell off my shelves. I thought we got bombed,” Vanhorn said.

Following what Vanhorn said was the explosion that shook her home, other residents of the mobile home park found themselves outside with their phones rolling around 10:30 p.m. Friday. It was then that she caught a second explosion on camera.

She says she didn’t even know a refinery was nearby. Many of her neighbors didn’t know either.

“We all go down by the clubhouse, you know. Try to follow it to see what it is, and it was a huge fire. The biggest fire I’ve seen. It was huge and the blackest smoke. It was so black. It was very scary,” Vanhorn said.

An investigation into the incident is ongoing.

California Forever Inc., Fairfield CA, Flannery Associates, Slow Growth, Solano County CA, Travis Air Force Base

Sierra Club Announces Opposition to New City in Solano County, Fairfield/Zoom Press Conference on Tues., Nov. 28, 10am

Sierra Club Calls Billionaires’ Plan ‘Clandestine Possession’ of Solano County Land

SUISUN, CA – The Sierra Club will announce at a press conference here Tuesday its opposition to Flannery LLC’s proposal for a new city in Solano County, characterizing the project as a “clandestine possession,” charging the California Forever Project ignores years of Smart Use planning and the voter approved Orderly Growth Initiative.

More details will be presented at a formal Press Conference, at the Plaza in front of the County offices at 675 W. Texas St. at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023.

By Zoom: Meeting ID: 698 093 8552  Passcode: G1QC0K https://us06web.zoom.us/j/6980938552?pwd=NYE6hCuacobYGngpaOuDDub1NRZFAh.1&omn=85049635473

The Flannery LLC is a corporation that secretly purchased more than 60,000 acres of Solano County agricultural land without disclosing its backers.

After Flannery LLC was outed as a cabal of billionaires, they have now floated a plan called California Forever which flies in the face of years of Smart Growth planning endangering Travis AFB, the Suisun Marsh and the largest existent agricultural area remaining in the Bay Area.

“By ignoring the current voter approved uses of land that Flannery has acquired in order to jack their investment’s economic return is nothing short of a hostile takeover,” said Sierra Club Solano Group Chair Princess Washington.

Washington added, “These land use rules have allowed for a harmonious relationship of agricultural uses and open space with the urban environment of the seven existing cities in Solano County. There will be an increase in Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT).”

Brandon Dawson, Sierra Club State Executive Director, said,  “This project will violate recent Statewide efforts including the Governor’s 30 by 30 project and various efforts to reduce Green House Gases.”

Contacts: Princess Washington – Chair Sierra Club Solano Group – (707) 333-7073 cessprinwashington@yahoo.com

Joe Feller – Sierra Club Redwood Chapter Executive Committee – (415) 902-3395

 

Clean Air Act, Refinery fire, Refinery safety

Ohio firefighters battle massive flames in containing oil refinery fire

[Note from BenIndy: Once again, from one refinery town another, Benicia surely empathizes and sympathizes with those impacted by this large refinery fire in Ohio that took 75 firefighters to contain. Impacts to nearby soil and waterways are currently under investigation. Remember, according to the WSJ, there ‘hasn’t been a major new oil refinery built in the U.S. since the 1970s, and many plants are more than 100 years old.’ That same article linked above also notes that, according to the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, ‘2021 was the worst year for serious incidents at U.S. refineries since 2015, measured by hours worked, with the rate of so-called process-safety events 25% higher than in 2019 and 2020.’  As refineries continue to deteriorate, the rate of serious incidents seems likely to increase.]

WHIOTV7, by WHIO Staff, November 22, 2023 

COLUMBUS — Ohio firefighters battled an oil refinery fire for several hours Tuesday night.

Columbus firefighters were dispatched just after 8 p.m. to GFL Columbus Refinery across from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services and were put out after 10 p.m., according to our news partner WBNS in Columbus.

It is also located near John Glenn Columbus International Airport.

Firefighters had to deal with massive flames when they arrived at the scene.

Whitehall Division of Fire provided mutual aid and posted videos and photos of the fire on its social media page.

Columbus Fire Battalion Chief Jeffrey Geitter told WBNS crews worked to keep other surrounding tanks cool to keep the fire from spreading.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

For safe and healthy communities…