Unlike the media talking heads, I assumed there was more to the Key Bridge collapse than "an accident." Well, turns out that former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who's now running as the Republican candidate for the Senate, was a significant factor. The Lever has done a remarkable job putting together the background on this disaster, go read the whole thing!
Hogan even appointed the head of dredging contractors’ lobbying group to run the port amid the expansion that doled out lucrative dredging and construction contracts. Now, don't get me wrong; these projects create tons of jobs, which is a good thing. But could you slow down just long enough to consider safety?
As the insurance conglomerate Allianz was spotlighting the dangers of large cargo ships, Hogan positioned himself as his state’s highest-profile supporter of the mega-ship industry — at one point declaring that thanks to his administration’s investments, “every year we are seeing larger and larger container ships choosing the Port of Baltimore.”
During the Republican governor’s tenure, mega-ship traffic in Baltimore exploded, transporting record amounts of cargo through the port worth billions of dollars. But as the port expanded with Hogan’s support, experts say the Key Bridge, as it was commonly known, may not have been fortified for the possibility of a collision with such large ships — even though a cargo vessel had already crashed into the bridge a few decades earlier, when ships were smaller.
Hogan, who is now running for one of Maryland’s U.S. Senate seats, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
This kind of thing could have happened anywhere -- anywhere politicians don't effectively balance the danger to the public over all those photo ops and donor checks. They can go ahead with these projects with their supposedly informed perspective, but when there's a major disaster, don't be surprised if it comes back to bite you in the ass.
(Just remember, guys: It's usually a bad sign when the insurance industry is flashing red lights.)
And by the way, the Lever also just reported on the same Maersk shipping line's policy of silencing whistleblowers.
