I am not familiar with the Galveston, Huston area, are there oil rigs

[movonne]

out in the gulf in this area???

[daninthemoon]

1. CNN was reporting that the rigs that sustained damage 3 weeks

ago were only grazed. This time they expect a direct hit.

[highplainsdem]

35. An oil industry expert on CNN earlier today said there were over

100 rigs and platforms in Rita's path. (Can't remember his name, but he's the author of "Black Gold Strangehold.) And of course there are all the refineries in the Houston/Galveston area. Rita could have a much greater impact on prices and supplies than Katrina had.

[MsTryska]

2. I also have a Rita question....

but don't want to start a new thread - cuz i don't wanna break the board. I hope you don't mind movonne?


I can answer your question tho - yes - there are - apparently about 25% of our oil comes from there.


My question is this: are illegals accounted for in the evacuation?

are they gonna go house to house? or are there going to be a bunch of people after the fact that we find out about, because they were too scared of Immigration?

[Bridget Burke]

6. I haven't heard about anyone going house to house.

Unless it's in Galveston, which will probably bear the brunt.

For one example: the Houston Police Department does NOT arrest undocumented workers. They prefer that victims or witnesses of crimes not be afraid of them. The Minutemen do not approve!

[MsTryska]

13. I can imagine.....

but even with the police not arresting - do the undocumented workers trust them?


I mean are they going to be willing to get involved in any way with the government or anyone seemingly in an authority role, whether it's going to a shelter, or getting on a bus?

[ultraist]

32. There is no way illegals are accounted for

They don't have their names or really even know that they are here. How would they account for them?

They SHOULD go door to door and do "knock and drag" to evacuate people. They do "knock and drag" to get people to the polls, seems to me, they could coordinate an effort to save lives this way.

They probably wont include homeless people, unclaimed people, or illegals in any bodycounts. I doubt they are in NOLA. They want to keep the count down.

[XNASA]

3. Yes.

Many of the local pleasure boats would actually tie up overnite on some of the rigs.

I doubt anyone will be doing that in the near future.

[txaslftist]

4. There are a shitload of rigs off the eastern coast of Texas...

...when we vacationed at Mustang Island this spring you could see prolly six or seven right there.

[Texas_Kat]

5. Not to mention oil and natural gas production facilities (drilling)

oil and gas refineries, chemical plants (Dow is in Freeport) as well as offshore production.

It's gonna be a mess.

[Reciprocity]

7. Yes for oil and gas.

I heard a lady on MSNBC say that we can make up for the oil rigs and refineries but there is no where we can get natural gas from.

[Fovea]

8. Think of it this way

Cat 5 Charlie Foxtrot, takes a big ole dump on 'petrochemical alley'

One out of every 4 gallons you pump into your tank comes from the smack-down zone of what is essentially, the fist of an angry god, specifically, Poseidon.

[dogday]

9. Lots of freaking oil refineries

not alot of rigs, you see some here and there, but Galveston, Houston, Shipchannel area is all about the Oil refineries...

[Ready4Change]

10. Oh yah.

Houston is a major oil city.

Never knew it was so gay, though. ;)

[Reciprocity]

14. Then you've never gone down Montrose street in Houston.

From Wikipedia

Montrose (sometimes "The Montrose") is the name of a neighborhood and also an area in Houston, Texas. This area is colloquially referred to as "The Area" or "The Neighborhood" by some people within the Houston gay community.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montrose,_Houston

[Ready4Change]

20. Well, don't let the Fundies find out.

Or they'll be saying "Look! God is sending us a sign!"

I mean, to me, God is saying "Yo! Start developing alternative energy and kick your addiction to foreign oil."

[Nite Owl]

11. Here's a map

of the rigs

http://gom.rigzone.com/rita.asp

Sorry I am not too good at the posting pics yet.

[doublethink]

12. Here ya go ......

[Nite Owl]

15. Thanks so much n/t

[Reciprocity]

16. Great map, thanks. n/t

[Reciprocity]

17. here is the link for the map

http://gom.rigzone.com/rita.asp

[Nite Owl]

19. doublethink

could you post wakeme2008's projection map with this one.
It looks like big trouble.

post #3
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4841170

[Reciprocity]

23. That's a huge animation. I'm on dial-up and it still hasn't loaded yet.

link
http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/TROP/DATA/RT/gmex-vis-loop.html

[doublethink]

25. Sure here ya go ......

[Reciprocity]

18. Lol you and I seem to be on the same page here. n/t

[Nite Owl]

24. Yes, we are!

Good luck to you, are you in the path?

[Reciprocity]

29. I'm well inland. However tornadoes are a concern.

My town Lufkin, is taking in folks and pets (up to horses). We already have Katrina evacuees here.
http://www.cityoflufkin.com/

[phusion]

30. I think the strongest section of a hurricane

is the area northeast of the eye. So, by that map, that big cluster of grey dots NE of the track will feel the brunt of the storm.

[Emit]

21. I grew up in Houston

Every weekend, we would party down in Galveston. I remember never wanting to wear my 'good' bathing suit because of all of the oil (or something black and sticky?) in the sand on the beach and in the water that would leave black marks on your clothes.

All in all, in the late 70's and early 80's, Galveston beach was not very 'pretty', although it had it's nicer areas. The Strand was new, and they were beautifying it, but for the most part it seemed really industrial.

Once, my brother and some friends and I went crabbing there. My brother (stupidly) lit himself on fire trying to get a camp fire going, and ended up throwing a flaming can of kerosene and himself into the water. The oil skids on the water lit on fire, and we weren't very far from what looked like refineries or something. I can remember praying to God that we didn't all blow up. It was one of those stupid, scary things that you do when you're young.

So, yes, lots of rigs, lots of oil.

[MsTryska]

22. Ok - your story is hilarious and horrifying at the

same time.


like some sort of cynical slapstick sequence you'd see on TV.

[txindy]

39. I can relate to that story

I was on the beach in Galveston once, walking along the sand. I took off my shoes and waded in the water up to my ankles. There were families playing in the water, swimming around. When I looked at them I finally noticed the floating black blobs in the water. At the same moment I felt the burning sensation on my ankles. I hopped out of the water and saw that every bit of skin that had been in the water was bright red. It felt like it was on fire! I ran back to the car and, luckily, found a water bottle inside of it. I washed off my legs (nothing visible on them) and the burning went away. It didn't seem to bother any of those people swimming in the blob-infested water, though.

I haven't been in the Gulf water since. No way, no how. Nuh-uh.

[Jacobin]

26. thousands and thousands of them

[Zynx]

27. Oh yeah. You can see them on the horizon from Galveston.

[McCamy Taylor]

28. The Mecca of oil refineries. If these blow, they will take out thousands

of citizens living in the surrounding areas, and if enough of them are leveled by the storm, gasoline production is going to be crippled in the US.

Dont really expect them to be leveled, however, operating conditions and saftety at many of these plants is piss poor. For instance, when there is a leak of toxic chemicals into the surrounding community or a fire or explosion, the state of Texas allows the plant to close the affected area for two weeks to cover up the violations that caused the problem BEFORE allowing state inspectors inside. British Petroleum is a big offender. So, with plants understaffed and unusual weather conditions and possible power surges or outages, we may see explosions, fires, chemical leaks etc that will devastate places like Texas City. If they get bad enough, they could interfere with the industries ability to refine crude.

[Bouncy Ball]

31. HECK yeah.

When you love a place, you love even the "ugly" parts.

When I was in college, I would drive through parts of south Houston and near to the coast to go meet up with my then-fiance.

At night, there'd be this really heavy low cloud cover, and those refinery smokestacks would have these giant flames out the top and the shadow of those flames would dance on the underside of the clouds.

Eerie and beautiful all at the same time.

this isn't quite it, but it gives you an idea:

[Blue_In_AK]

34. I went to high school at Pasadena High

one semester, which is on the south side of the ship channel. When the wind blew from the north, the smell would nearly kill you.

[Bouncy Ball]

36. Which is why we call it "Stinkadena."

LOL!

[Blue_In_AK]

38. Yep.

Thanks for the memories. LOL. I finished off at South Houston -- not quite so bad. I'm very worried for some of my old classmates from the class of '64 who are still down that way. I heard from one this morning who said he's heading out, but he knows people who are staying. I just can't believe they'd take the risk.

[Reciprocity]

40. Highlands was known as Turdcity by the locals for that reason.

[Blue_In_AK]

33. All over the place

plus refineries and all kinds of chemical plants. More than Louisiana, I think.

[Bouncy Ball]

37. You are right.

The chemical plants around here are HUGE.