Re: California wants to BAN wide screen TV's?
TnMountains,
I watch the news every day - and I have to say - I had not heard of that spill until today. It is a shame - what is its status now? (in other words, how much more taxpayer money do they need to finish the clean-up job, since it probably isn't done yet).
In Pa, when I was growing up, coal was burning 24/7 - at night the countryside was blue with a few yellow flames of coal fires.
Many cars have fallen into underground tunnels that collapse, and the entire town of Centralia was bought out with taxpayer funds (except for a couple who decided to stay), but the ground and water had been toxic for literally YEARS, before they ever addressed it. They knew about it, because years before, a home started falling into a pit of fire - which they found when one morning the guys front porch was in the ground along with part of his basement wall. They dozed the house, and bought him out, and tried filling the hole - which worked for a little while, until the fires caught up. I believe they originally thought that some firemen caused the fire - but, everyone around the area knows that a little garbage fire didn't do this, since there are many areas of underground mine subsidences and fires.
As of last February, a trip by there while we were in Pa., confirmed that - its still burning - it smells of that coal gas sulpher smell and steam and smoke still are coming out of the ground. Anyone who is familiar with the Northeast Pa area, or has grown up there, knows that smell and knows that look.
The government spent over 40 million dollars, but decided it was too expensive to actually do anything about. Yet, if you or I spill a little oil onto the soil, the government will have you paying for it for the rest of your life.
The government has a set of regulations for you and I - and a whole other set for themselves, from the lowest government official to the top of the government pile. Always has been, in my lifetime, and always will be.
http://www.centraliaminefire.com/