\nto think about it, but it’s probably a good time for a hard look at our
\n“backup” accident plans for nuclear power plants, now that we know how unbelievably
\nunprepared the BP\/Transocean\/Halliburton Dream Team was for an accident on
\ntheir Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig. I mean, BP’s worthless response plan involved protecting (Arctic) walruses in the Gulf of Mexico<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n
Our dirty-energy economy I hear from more people who say they’re concerened about the safety risks of factory meat and other I’ve been happily \n<\/p>\n Related Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n What if the oil spill just can’t be fixed?<\/a><\/p>\n Fake BP Twitter account attracts lots of followers<\/a><\/p>\n The 7 dumbest things in BP’s spill response plan<\/a><\/p>\n
\nrequires us to undertake lots of enormous, risky endeavors that we keep happily
\nout of mind until something goes wrong. Few of us thought about the perils of
\ndrilling into deeper and deeper ocean beds until the last month. Few of us
\nthought about coal-ash waste<\/a>—the toxic sludge left over from coal-fired electricity generation—until a
\nretaining wall broke and a pond of it poured out near Kingston, Tenn., 18
\nmonths ago.\n<\/p>\n
\nindustrialized food. But with this, too, we’re largely at the mercy of
\nout-of-sight federal regulators with a lackluster record (see “ammonia
\nburgers<\/a>”). The BP gusher is proving—again—that safety
\nregulators who are in hock to insanely lucrative industries aren’t going to do an adequate job of
\nprotecting us.\n<\/p>\n
\nclueless about backup plans for the nation’s 104 nuclear-power reactors (to say
\nnothing of military sites). Now I’m realizing how foolish that is.\n<\/p>\n
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