08.01.08
I have had a busy day.
What should have been a simple day, got complicated. I had to take some friends by Central Tank Battery and the first thing I noticed…. a leaking tank. Not that a leaking tank is really anything out of the normal in an ExxonMobil facility. I happened to have my geiger counter on my person, and took a quick reading of 316. The background NORM is 30. So, whatever is leaking from this tank is very radioactive. All the tank said was “out of service” “NO hazardous chemicals”. Obviously, radioactive material is not considered hazardous to ExxonMobil. No telling what Exxon has in the tank. As you can tell by these photos, the tank has leaked before, it leaks until the level of the tank drops below the hole. Then a new hole forms and it leaks again. ExxonMobil is such a prudent operator. If they weren’t they wouldn’t have a lease. Checklist for a prudent operator — this is a page out of their manual:
1. Fill up tank with radioactive material
2. Take it out of service.
3. Watch tank leak out until it is completely empty
4. Repeat.
Oh, while I was out watching ExxonMobil dump “non-hazardous chemicals” all over the place, I saw some more illegal immigrants pass by. I tried to shout out “Hey be careful, this is a no smoking area. No fumar.” but they ignored me. These folks don’t realize that most of ExxonMobil’s stuff is leaking gas — adding a new deadly element to the smoking habit.
After Central Tank, we went to the Kelsey Compressor Station. Here I found a HUGE tank leaking. It’s so big, I wonder how many years it will take to actually empty. I have no clue what is in it. I’m sure it’s just some more non-hazardous radioactive waste. My geiger counter was out of batteries. Darn.
When I was leaving the compressor station I saw another leaking tank marked Benzene and it had two separate screw-repairs from previous leaks.
Then, my friends wanted to go see how Chevron’s big MERCURY contamination clean up was going. Chevron reported a big problem to the Texas Railroad Commission about MERCURY in October of 2007. We were able to verify from our on-site visit that the clean-up is moving right along.
Like I said, it has been a busy day.
