Man sues University of Neb to stop Husker football balloon release

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per the Lincoln Journal Star:

An Omaha man is suing the University of Nebraska in an attempt to curb the balloon release tradition that happens at Husker football games, citing a 1976 federal law governing waste disposal.

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court Tuesday, Randall Krause said the mass balloon release results in the open dumping of solid waste, which is prohibited under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

Over the last half century, Krause alleges in his lawsuit, NU has promoted a balloon release during home Husker football games in the fall after the team scores its first points in which thousands of spectators take part.

After the balloons are released, they are “carried away by the wind and forces of nature,” Krause said, traveling beyond university property and potentially landing hundreds or thousands of miles away.

“Husker balloons can even land in the Great Lakes, Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean,” the lawsuit states.

http://journalstar.com/news/local/e...cle_35be16ea-5854-5c69-9357-a24ba587aacf.html

Go Gophers!!
 

This guy is going to have go into the witness protection program.
 

To be honest, this was always something I wondered about when I would see the balloon thing. Surprised it hasn't been challenged before this (maybe it has)
 

Sounds dump, but he truly has a point. It's like throwing cigarette butts out your car window.
 





We found a red balloon on our way to school the day after the Twins parade in 1987. I don't know if it traveled the 140 miles from the parade but I like to think it did.
 

isn't helium becoming more difficult to get. I thought I read somewhere it was also important in medical and scientific research and that the party balloon market was supposed to be getting squeezed
 



everybody knows my name said:
I don't think those balloons usually travel more than a few miles.
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From the links I posted above.

" “At best, free-flying balloons become litter; at worst, they jeopardize wildlife. Once airborne, they can travel far afield and often end up joining the flotsam riding the world’s oceans. One that was unleashed in a science fair experiment to investigate wind direction was retrieved on an island 1,300 miles from its release site. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration identifies balloons as a commonly reported source of marine debris.” Eileen Andreason, Audubon (How do balloons affect wildlife?)"

"When a latex balloon is released, it rises to a height of approximately 28,000 feet, with the helium gas expanding as it rises. With temperatures dropping to minus 40 degrees at this altitude, the balloon freezes. As the helium continues to expand in the frozen balloon, the balloon undergoes "brittle fracturing" and ruptures into small slivers which scatter and fall to earth. A small percentage of balloons which are released will experience leaks from defects and will not rise high enough to freeze and burst. The distance they travel and their distribution will be determined by current prevailing winds.

Research indicates that if 10% of the balloons from a 500 balloon release were to fall into this category, the average distribution would be one balloon per 15 square mile area."
 

holereader said:
isn't helium becoming more difficult to get. I thought I read somewhere it was also important in medical and scientific research and that the party balloon market was supposed to be getting squeezed
Click to expand...
Yes, there is more control over the supply/additional production facilities that have started up in the middle east (helium is often extracted from pockets under the earth while drilling for natural gas or oil), however it is a finite resource on the planet and once expended cannot be recaptured (with current tech). Applications in science and medicine are going to need helium, and eventually frivolous use will need to be controlled more. The amount of helium used for a few thousand balloons is a small fraction of the total helium supply. Industrial applications use far more volume.
 






BarnBoy said:
Whoops!

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Apparently the United Way ended up losing money on this event (which was supposed to be a fundraiser) because they got sued by several parties after the event for disruptions caused by the balloons, including preventing a coast guard helicopter from doing search and rescue operations on a boat in which 2 men has been reported missing. Their bodies later washed up on shore.
 

Maverick said:
Ha! First thing I thought of was WKRP'S Thanksgiving turkey drop....also in Ohio by the way...

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
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'As God is my witness, I thought turkey's could fly."
 



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