As those who study EDM concepts know very well, emergencies and disasters come in two ‘flavors’ if you will. Flavor #1 is the natural disaster. These include earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis, floods, hurricanes, and the like. Flavor #2 is the human-caused disaster. These include global warming, pollution, nuclear accidents, environmental destruction, and similar.
As noted in our [link url= “https://amuedge.com/edm-tuesday-briefing-billion-dollar-weather-events-second-warmest-year-on-record-record-setting-wildfires/” title= “recent post,“] there were ten natural disasters in the US in 2015 that crossed the [link url= “http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions/” title= “billion-dollar mark.”] That’s alarming in that it’s about double the average of five that typically occur each year. As we don’t typically have all that many billions of dollars to go around in dealing with disasters, it seems especially important to avoid human-caused disasters that rise to that level.
Do we humans voluntarily create billion-dollar disasters? Most certainly so. Here is a compilation of recent human-caused situations that either have or will likely cross the billion-dollar disaster response mark before they’re completely resolved.
Constructing Communities below Water Level: New Orleans remains our cautionary tale in this regard. When Hurricane Katrina overtopped or washed away levees, the damage caused was inconceivable, and nearly incalculable. Nonetheless, calculations were made and [link url= “http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lix/?n=katrina_anniversary” title= “NOAA“] placed the number at $108 billion dollars. While not all of that can be contributed directly to human-caused circumstances, most of it probably is.
Transmission of Tar Sands Crude Oil by Train or Pipeline: Keystone was not the first or only time that tar sands have been proposed to be transported within the US. Kalamazoo Michigan was the site of a spill in 2010, when a pipe carrying bitumen crude oil ruptured and [link url= “http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/11/2010_oil_spill_cost_enbridge_1.html” title= “dumped nearly 850,000 gallons“] into the Kalamazoo River and tributaries. The thing about tar sands is that they sink in water, so instead of forming a film across the top that can be skimmed off, they line the bottom which has to be dredged. The cleanup cost reported so far by Enbridge, the responsible company, is $1.21 billion dollars, not including significant fines for environmental violations and the [link url= “http://www.ibtimes.com/enbridge-oil-spill-five-years-later-michigan-residents-struggle-move-2022591” title= “multi-billion dollar cost“] of building a replacement pipeline.
Making Public Utility Decisions based on Economics: Flint Michigan has been the victim of [link url= “https://amuedge.com/integrity/” title= “gross negligence“] by public administrators, which continues to play out across the news media on a daily basis. We’ve covered the issue extensively. Already, class action lawsuits have been filed on behalf of the victims, with many more like to follow. Does anyone doubt that this ‘cost-saving’ measure will eventually end up costing billions?
Fracking: Geographically stable Oklahoma has now become the [link url= “http://www.startribune.com/more-quakes-rattle-oklahoma-but-state-avoids-tough-measures/365642761/” title= “earthquake capital of the country“] thanks to the disposal of wastewater from fracking operations. Property damage statistics continue to build, but at the same time, an even greater danger lurks. Oil and gas companies are [link url= “https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exemptions_for_hydraulic_fracturing_under_United_States_federal_law” title= “exempt from most environmental regulations“] and therefore do not have to disclose the content of fracking wastewater that is being pumped back into the ground. This has [link url= “http://insideclimatenews.org/news/02032015/can-fracking-pollute-drinking-water-dont-ask-epa-hydraulic-fracturing-obama-chesapeake-energy” title= “prevented researchers“] from finding out whether fracking is harmful to human health or not. Does anyone think THIS is a good idea?
Those are just four examples of human-caused activities that have or could mushroom into billion-dollar disaster responses. There are undoubtedly many more. Does your emergency planning account for them? Do your public policies enable them? Do you have work to do?
Comments are closed.