Add this to the list that includes (at least): Cincinatti, Kentucky, Syracuse, Rio, La Paz, and the Sudan. Seven spills in about three weeks (I wasn't counting before that) is the unofficial count. That's about two per week or better, which comes out to be about one every 3.5 days. Great track record, huh?

********************** eb 6, 2000 - 10:53 PM

Pipeline Spills Oil Into Philadelphia Wildlife Refuge The Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Thousands of gallons of crude oil spilled into a national wildlife refuge in southwest Philadelphia during the weekend after a refinery pipeline began leaking.

The 24-inch pipe began leaking Saturday and spread about 25,000 gallons of oil beneath the icy surface of a pond, officials said. Scientists aren't sure how severely wildlife in the 1,200-acre reserve will be affected.

Clean up crews were working round-the-clock Sunday to remove the oil.

"This is a very unique situation. We've never had, in my experience, an oil recovery situation beneath the surface of ice," said John McCann of the Sunoco Refinery, which operates the pipeline that bisects the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge.

Investigators won't know what caused the underground pipe to leak until they dig it up, he said.

AP-ES-02-06-00 2252EST ) Copyright 2000 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Brought to you by the Tampa Bay Online Network

-- paul leblanc (bronyaur@gis.net), February 07, 2000

Answers

What a bummer! Keep up the great work and all the excellent posts Paul!

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), February 07, 2000.

Horrid. Y2K: we all thought of it first in terms of the inconveniences and possible hazards to human life. The devastation to these pristine enclaves, nature preserves, remote wilderness of Lake Titicaca -- would have been unthinkable, frankly -- and beyond the conception of the worts doomer. As things develop, it is the innocent creatures of YHWH who are by suffocation are sacrificed to the inanity of the corporate bottom line and the inverse priorities of our Babylon. Grotesque. Absalom!!!

>"<

-- Squirrel Hunter (nuts@upina.cellrelaytower), February 07, 2000.

Great, just great. This isn't quite my back yard, but not far from here.

Yea, "localized" problems. Great, just great, Y2K related or not.

Tick... Tock... <:00= ...

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), February 07, 2000.

Squirrel Hunter,

Your post above (and others) seem to follow my thoughts and observations. I have some other thoughts I'd like to share and get your opinions on that are OT and probably shouldn't be discussed here. e-mail is real.

-- BH (bh_silentvoice@hotmail.com), February 07, 2000.

Has anyone here actually BEEN to the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge?

It's kind of a joke frankly.

Yeah, there are birds there, and yeah, it's an okay place to hike around.

It's a SWAMP, literally surrounded by oil refineries! The only reason that it's a "Wildlife Refuge" is because no one would want to put anything else there.

Every 20 yards or so you see a yellow and black pole sticking out of the ground which warns you that there is a pipeline running underneath the swamp so that you shouldn't dig there.

I'm not saying it shouldn't exist, and I'm not saying that it has no value, but this is one spill that almost no one will notice. The birds probably won't be back for a few weeks either.

Yes, it's a good thing that no one put anything meaningful here, but it's an AWFULLY strange place for a refuge of any sort.

And yes, I'm a doomer.

-- nothere nothere (notherethere@hotmail.com), February 07, 2000.