SAINTS AND LSU - WHAT A SHOCKING WEEKEND!

   THE SAINTS 0-3?  WOW!  AND, LSU ALMOST GETTING BEAT IN AUBURN?

What a shocking weekend for our south Louisiana football teams!  Who would have ever thought at the beginning of the season that the Saints would be 0-3 after the first three games of the regular season?  Maybe the loss of Coach Sean Payton is having a much greater impact than first expected?   Only time will tell.

And then LSU!  Were it not for a a locker room speech by Sam Montgomery at half time that apparently inspired a great defensive 2nd half for the Tigers, Auburn would surely have defeated LSU.  Very sloppy game with far too many mistakes and penalties.  If Coach Miles can't get these things under control, it's going to be a very loooong season with a lot of question marks.  By the way, LSU dropped to #3, behind Oregon in today's two polls, with Bama still #1. I thought they might drop lower than that after the poor showing on Saturday in Auburn.

I had hoped to be able to announce that we would be launching our new and totally re-designed website today.  But, my webmaster is a little behind so we may not be ready until October 1st it now appears.

I've posted several articles in the past year about several very bad accidents with the transportation of ethanol to refiners and blenders.  Now, the ethanol industry is trying to focus these incidents on faulty rail car design.  I'm not sure everyone is aware that ethanol CANNOT be transported via pipeline like so many other hydrocarbon products.  This is due to ethanol's  corrosive properties.  It would damage pipelines, so it has to be moved by tank car and tank trucks.  Of course, this increases the risk of accidents and subsequent spills and fires.  Here's an article dealing with rail tank car design issues.

"Pete"
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Ethanol tankers have dangerous flaw

18 hours ago  •  By JASON KEYSER • Associated Press

CHICAGO • For two decades, one of the most commonly used types of rail tanker has been allowed to haul hazardous liquids from coast to coast even though transportation officials were aware of a dangerous design flaw that almost guarantees the car will tear open in an accident, potentially spilling cargo that could catch fire, explode or contaminate the environment.
The rail and chemical industries have committed to a safer design for new tankers but are pressing regulators not to require modifications to tens of thousands of current cars.
The pressure comes despite a spike in the number of accidents as more tankers are put into service to accommodate soaring demand for ethanol, the highly flammable corn-based fuel usually transported by rail.
Derailments have triggered chemical spills and massive blasts such as one in July in Columbus, Ohio, which blew up with such intensity that one witness said it "looked like the sun exploded."
Some towns with busy railways are beginning to regard the tankers as a serious threat to public safety.
"There's a law of averages that gives me great concern," said Jim Arie, fire chief in Barrington, a wealthy Chicago suburb where ethanol tankers snake through a bustling downtown. "Sometimes I don't sleep well at night."
He's not the only one. The town's mayor is trying to build a national coalition to push for safety reforms.

The tanker, known as the DOT-111, is a workhorse of the American rail fleet, with a soda-can shape that makes it one of the most easily recognizable cars on freight routes.
The tanker itself is not suspected of causing derailments, but the National Transportation Safety Board has noted several worrisome problems: Its steel shell is too thin to resist puncture in accidents. The ends are especially vulnerable to tears from couplers that can fly up after ripping off between cars. And unloading valves and other exposed fittings on the tops of tankers can also break during rollovers.
The flaws were noted as far back as a 1991 safety study.

An Associated Press analysis of 20 years' worth of federal rail accident data found that ethanol tankers have been breached in at least 40 serious accidents since 2000. In the previous decade, there were just two breaches.
The number of severe crashes is small considering the total mileage covered by the many tankers in service, and the rail industry's safety record on shipments of hazardous materials is strong. More than 99 percent of hazmat rail shipments arrive safely at their destinations.
But the accident reports show that since 1996 at least two people have been killed by balls of flame, with dozens more hurt. And the risk of greater losses looms large.

The rail and chemical industries and tanker manufacturers have voluntarily committed to safety changes for cars built after October 2011 to transport ethanol and crude oil. The improvements include thicker tank shells and shields on the ends of tanks to prevent punctures.
Under the industry proposal to regulators, the 30,000 to 45,000 current ethanol tankers — including many cars that have only recently begun their decades-long service lives — would remain unchanged.
In March, the NTSB asked for the higher standards to be applied to all tankers, meaning current cars would have to be retrofitted or phased out.
The industry's proposal "ignores the safety risks posed by the current fleet," the NTSB said in a report on safety recommendations.