After Harvey: Today's News for August 31st

Fox News:

'THE QUESTION IS WHEN' Chemical plant outside Houston could explode, company says

A flooded chemical plant in a small town outside Houston was poised to explode, a spokeswoman for the French company that operates it said late Wednesday, though the timing and extent of the danger weren't immediately clear.

The Arkema Inc. plant in Crosby — about 25 miles northeast of Houston -- lost power Sunday and its backup generators amid Harvey's days-long deluge, leaving it without refrigeration for chemicals that become volatile as the temperature rises.

"The fire will happen. It will resemble a gasoline fire. It will be explosive and intense in nature," spokeswoman Janet Smith told the Associated Press.

There was "no way to prevent" the explosion, CEO Rich Rowe said earlier Wednesday.

In its most recently available submission from 2014, Arkema said potentially 1.1 million residents could be affected over an area of 23 miles in a worst case, according to information compiled by a nonprofit group and posted on a website hosted by the Houston Chronicle.

Remember all the laws and regulations we have to prevent incidents like this?

Arkema's plant is required to develop and submit a risk management plan to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, because it has large amounts of sulfur dioxide, a toxic chemical, and methylpropene, a flammable gas. The plans are supposed to detail the effects of a potential release, evaluate worst-case scenarios and explain a company's response. 

The problem is that government can never account for every single weird possibility in the future. This is why preventive law is a waste of time, creating more work that won't actually prevent anything, and will only serve as a tax upon law-abiding people.

In other Hurricane Harvey news...

CNN:

Christie calls Cruz 'disgusting' over hurricane relief

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie slammed Sen. Ted Cruz Wednesday morning over what he said was the Texas Republican's double standard in opposing Superstorm Sandy relief but requesting federal aid for Texas after Hurricane Harvey.

"I have no sympathy for this -- and I see Sen. Cruz and it's disgusting to me that he stands in a recovery center with victims standing behind him as a backdrop," he told CNN's Chris Cuomo on "New Day." "He's still repeating the same reprehensible lies about what happened in Sandy (and) called on Congress Wednesday morning to work fast on a bill to aid Texas after Hurricane Harvey."

Cruz said Monday he voted against a 2013 Sandy relief bill because it was "a $50 billion bill filled with pork and unrelated spending that wasn't hurricane relief."

Time for some TRUTH: By its very nature, disaster relief IS pork. It only benefits a small group of Americans at the expense of all of us.

Mind you, people can and should be charitable to other people suffering from a natural disaster. But government is the most inefficient way to accomplish this.

Finally, in non-Harvey news...

CNS News:

BLS: Americans Spend More on Taxes Than Food and Clothing Combined

Americans on average spent more on taxes in 2016 than they did on food and clothing combined, according to data released this week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The same data also shows that in three years—from 2013 to 2016—the average tax bill for Americans increased 41.13 percent.

In 2016, according to BLS, “consumer units” (which include families, financially independent individuals, and people living in a single household who share expenses) spent more on average on federal, state and local taxes ($10,489) than they did on food ($7,203) and clothing ($1,803) combined ($9,006).

The average tax bill for American “consumer units” increased from $7,423 in 2013 to $10,489 in 2016, according to data released this week by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Elections have consequences.