I recommend complaining to support if this ends up affecting you. It wouldn't surprise me if they can turn it back on for you (idk if it's likely, but I feel like it's worth a try.)
This is very, very bad, but not armaggeddon (probably) for most people. It does decrease our preparedness for armageddon-like disasters - imagine a more aggressive HIV-like disease, for example. If you're an academic or a federal employee, it might be the end of your career which is like a little mini apocalypse targeted only at specific walks of life.
As someone who's been in a position like this before, I suspect the author is angry at the manufacturers and feels they're not being honest by not providing proper specs. It's hard to spec out a project when no one will tell you exactly what their parts can do. It's like if you were trying to buy a light truck for work and intsead of telling you how much weight it could pull or how often maintenance would be needed, the manufacturer refused to say anything more than "it can tow a speedboat" and "it requires infrequent maintenance."
I agree. If you hire someone, and they aggrieve someone in the course of their duties, your contractor is your agent and you're responsible for what they did. It makes no sense to treat AI any differently.
That last quote is saying that if tank hits the ground but it's not compromised enough for pressure to escape, disturbing it could cause it to release all that pressurized fuel at once ("explode"). Hopefully in the original context they explained that this is not very likely.