Blast from the Past: That Sinking Feeling

Longtime fans of this blog who recall my epic 67-part series on sinkholes and their relation to conservative failure [1] may wonder why I haven't yet weighed in on the 600-foot gargantua that has been opening up in Daisetta, Texas. [2] The reason is that my interest was in sinkholes that opened up as a result of public infrastructure, specifically the nation's underground wastewater pipes which, I never tired of pointed out, are rated a D-minus by the American Society of Civil Engineers [3], not ones that are the result of private infrastructure, as appears to be the case with this one caused by Sunoco crude oil pipelines.

But I can't resist this one comment. The AP article cites a geologist in claiming, "Sinkholes are rare."

I used to have a GoogleNews alert for sinkholes, and after getting ten emails a day, and figuring I'd already quite made my point, I quit. But—did I mentioned this?—because of the conservative principle of tax-starvation that has earned our underground wastewater infrastructure a grade of D-minus by the American Society of Civil Engineers [3]—let us make no mistake: sinkholes are in no way rare. [4]

F'rinstance consider this story, which appeared an hour ago [5]:

PEARL CITY, Hawaii -- An 8-inch main broke on Hoomoana Street and it created a hole big enough to swallow a car. No one drove into it.

Residents said they heard running water at about 4 a.m. and called police. Officers kept watch until a Board of Water Supply crew arrived.

The sinkhole buckled the asphalt and literally lifted part of the street.
The main break left 18 homes without water for a short time.