The new disaster few are talking about

[dreamville_bg]

New infrared video reveals growing environmental disaster in L.A. gas leak

"Scientists and environmental experts say the Aliso Canyon leak instantly became the biggest single source of methane emissions in all of California when it began two months ago. The impact of greenhouse gases released since then, measured over a 20-year time frame, is the

Comments

[telemann]

And yet, somehow the impression is that it's stunningly under-reported by almost every major agency and media outlet - even at a local level. I wonder why that is.

I think perhaps that's a wrong impression, since early December, it's been reported on consistently by national news networks' programming, cable news, and even political news commentary programs like Rachel Maddow (I first saw coverage there on December 4) and local newspapers and TV stations in Los Angeles have covered it. And that was during a very busy news cycle while the San Bernardino shooting story was on-going

[dreamville_bg]

For some masochistic reason, I happen to have been watching CNN for hours on a couple of days in a row now, and it didn't get mentioned even once. I've browsed at least 4 or 5 major media outlets, including FOX, WSJ, NYP, HuffPo, and USAToday, and it was nowhere to be found on their front pages. One'd think a disaster of this magnitude affecting so many people would be all over the news, and be reported 24/7. One would expect environmental organizations to be rushing Capitol Hill, and the White House coming out with at least hints of a plan to address the problem. Or am I missing something big here?

[telemann]

I know you have specified "front pages," and the op suggested the story wasn't getting the coverage it should receive, but I don't think its being neglected or ignored. Closing the gas leak seems to be the priority, with the required investigation and legal actions coming after that. I've read Steve Bohlen, California's state oil and gas supervisor, resigned on November 30th, as a result of this disaster. And a judge has ordered Southern California Gas Co to pay for all relocation costs for the victims, and for securing the vacated homes. So the process is ongoing. It's also a regional / state issue for California, and not a national one, so no on-going involvement with the White House currently (although that could quickly change

[dreamville_bg]

What do you mean "specified front pages"? I listed some of the most prominent, most mainstream news outlets. I've been browsing them almost daily, and I haven't seen this issue being covered anywhere near their front pages for the last week or so. That said, I'm glad you managed to dig up those few occasions where they were mentioned there - after all, Google can do miracles.

You're right, though: the media coverage of the disaster isn't as important as the steps that are being taken to tackle it. Which is why it occupied exactly one and a half lines of this post (plus the title line, admittedly). Meanwhile, you've occupied an entire thread with it. Frankly, I would've preferred if we had both focused on the remaining, more important part of the issue (and by extension, the post).

[garote]

If the level of media attention were a trivial matter to you, why did you spend "days in a row" browsing the news looking for signs of it?? And why take pains to point that out?

[dreamville_bg]

What? When did "for some masochistic reason" suddenly become "looking for signs of it"? I've been spending days in a row looking at the news media - period. I do that all the time. At no point have I said that I've been specifically looking for anything in the news media. Are you sure you've read this carefully?

[telemann]

Why is this even a thing? You wrote the leak didn't get press (one of the easiest claims to verify and check); then you offered an explanation for the lack of coverage and action (i. e. profit); I provided some links that showed otherwise. You doubled down and then redefined your terms (i.e. moving the goalposts), which I even granted. "Ok, it may not have been front page," but I provided evidence it was covered in the specific outlets you listed that missed the story (WSJ, USA Today, etc).

You raised the media coverage in your post, and in the follow-up, and the fact it was only a line and half ( it was more than that, if you were counting) has no bearing really ( but something tells me the- [ nothing there specifying front page in the OP], and the lack of action, rather speaks of a classical case of putting profit over safety.) and ( now being called the largest environmental disaster since the BP oil spill. And yet, somehow the impression is that it's stunningly under-reported by almost every major agency and media outlet -

[airiefairie]

The thing that bugs me is that it is considered only a regional and state issue for California. If it is the biggest disaster since Katrina (which transcended just the cities and states that it affected), shouldn't it be considered a national problem?

[underlankers]

California can get away with vaccination rates in areas lower than countries like Nigeria that at least have the excuse of full-scale civil wars to justify their rates without that being seen as an epic health crisis. Even more ironically but predictably, it's in the richest parts of California!

[airiefairie]

Post-modernism backfiring, perhaps? Maybe progress is like an orb: if you advance too much and too fast societally, you reach a point where you eventually reach the buttocks of societal development, and return to the Stone Age...

[underlankers]

You know, that makes more sense than anything I've thought about the matter.

You really do have a good way of looking at things (100% sincerity mode here). :)

[airiefairie]

Or it could just be the wine. =)

[garote]

To the buttocks of societal development!

(*clink of wine glasses*)